


Those Pesky Butterflies

by aLoggedInReader



Series: Those Pesky Butterflies [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Slow Build, season 5 AU after changing channels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-10 23:17:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 40
Words: 87,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3306950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aLoggedInReader/pseuds/aLoggedInReader
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The flap of the wings of a butterfly can cause a tornado in another part of the world. Gabriel's wings are a lot bigger and the weather isn't the only thing he can influence! rated M for language, innuendo and probably subject matters at a later point</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to Ghastly Eternity for beta-reading!
> 
> Please take a second to leave kudos or a comment. I'll love you forever. ;-)
> 
> Also note this was written in 2012, so before Abaddon was a character on the show. The Abaddon here has no affiliation with the Abaddon of the show.

**1** ****

 

“Okay, Cas, just keep looking, we’ll be in contact,” Dean finished the phonecall with their angelic friend.

Who would have thought that it would be Becky, the super-fan, of all people who’d give them a clue how they could possibly end the Apocalypse? Dean would have loved to give all the credit for that to Chuck, but apparently the prophet had only written the little detail about the Colt being in the possession of some demon down, but hadn’t thought about telling them. So yes, they had Becky to thank for ever finding out about that.

“He hasn’t found Crowley yet?” Sam asked from his place on the passenger’s seat, where he was going through some more newspaper reports on the case they would be working with two other hunters.

They had Bobby looking for Apocalypse-specific troubles and Castiel was searching for the demon who should either have the Colt, or know where it could be found. Thus forth, the Winchester brothers had decided to go on doing business as usual. After all, the average things that went bump in the night hadn’t gone on an extended vacation just because the Apocalypse had started. Quite the contrary, in fact. Furthermore, Bobby had received a phone-call from the two hunters they would be meeting up with soon, saying that they really needed some reinforcement on the werewolf-hunt they were on.

“It’s only been a week, cut the guy some slack,” Dean replied, reaching for the radio he had turned off before he had picked up the phone. If Castiel said that he was searching, then he was searching 24/7. It wasn’t like the guy was going to be sidetracked by anything. Alright, if God suddenly came back from his vacation, Cas might abandon his search for Crowley, but in this very unlikely scenario they would not need the Colt anymore anyway.

Yeah sure, God was going to come back, put all the dicks who were so keen on the Apocalypse – especially Michael and Lucifer – into time-out, and everyone would get to run over a meadow frolicking with unicorns and rainbows. Dean _so_ believed in that.

“Come on, not again!” he groaned just a moment later, when he finally noticed that the radio was not playing the music it should have been playing. Something seemed to be wrong with the cassette-deck, because he sure as hell didn’t have a tape with Adele on it. The next time they were at Bobby’s and had some downtime, he’d have to check that out, but for the moment being he could only switch to another station.

“What the hell is wrong with the music in this state?” Dean grumbled after he had checked every station available and had only come up with pop-music and the sort of soft-rock he wouldn’t be caught dead listening to.

“You mean because it’s not all out of the sixties?” Sam commented with a small smirk before going back to the newspaper reports. They quite clearly were looking for a werewolf. The killings had started the previous month, but nobody had caught on quick enough to get rid of the creature, before the full moon had been over. As things were, they only had two days left before there’d be another month of waiting.

It seemed that the other two hunters had done a good job on the research already, but they had only been able to narrow the suspects down to three people, thus their need for backup.

Dean turned the radio off, after three ballads about broken hearts. He really couldn’t stand any more of that crap. It wasn’t music, it was torture! By all means, Sam shouldn’t like it. There was enough pain in their lives without adding mindless pop music to the mix. It made Dean wonder, if his brother didn’t simply have a very strong masochistic streak.

“Hey, Sam, you d’you actually like that sort of music, or do you just like it for the pain it gives you?” Dean asked in a lighthearted tone, after a – too short – moment of consideration, giving his brother a measuring look.

“What?” Sam simply replied, not completely sure if he had actually just heard what he thought he had. Okay, they both weren’t sleeping all too well or all too much, but if it was starting to affect Dean’s psyche like this, then Sam would have to make sure that he got a full night’s sleep as soon as possible.

“Nothing,” the older Winchester answered and immediately tried to change the subject to something else, “Why don’t you share the facts on the case with the class?”

Sam gladly did that instead of discussing his taste in music, his brother’s sanity, or a combination of both.

 

* * *

 

 

“My name’s Dean, and that’s my brother, Sam,” Dean started with the introductions, once they had met up with the other two hunters.

“Leo. And that’s my partner, Kyle,” the other hunter replied, before they all shook hands.

The diner was rather busy around lunchtime as it seemed, so they could talk freely without having to fear that anybody might be paying too much attention to them. Unless, of course, somebody would have targeted them, before they even started to talk about the case, but neither one of them was too concerned about that possibility.

“So, you told Bobby that you needed help,” Sam prompted, after the waitress had brought their coffees. Alright, they already knew that part, but they had to start talking about the reason why they were all here eventually.

“Yeah, even more now,” Leo nodded and looked over to Kyle, who had his arm bandaged, “We came pretty close yesterday, but then the werewolf suddenly changed directions and got him.”

“Tell me that’s not a bite-wound,” Dean immediately demanded.

“’Course it isn’t,” Kyle snorted, “I’d have a silver knife in my heart right now, if it was.”

Sam had already guessed that the other two had to have been hunters for a while going by their appearance, but the way Kyle spoke about his own death that casually pretty much confirmed his guess. You couldn’t hunt monsters for a living, not without accepting the possibility that it would get you killed. Accepting the fact that you really were going to die once the moment came was a completely different thing, of course.

“What’s the plan?” Dean made his next question. They had been on this longer than Sam and he had, so at least listening to what kind of game-plan they had couldn’t hurt. Besides, Dean had a hot cup of coffee and a piece of pie in front of him, so he was in the mood for listening to somebody else talking.

Leo produced a map of the town. Three points had already been marked in red, so obviously those were the houses of the suspects. Dean nodded along with the explanation they gave for every single one.

All in all, they’d just have to keep a close look at the three suspects that night and go their merry ways afterward. This was the kind of rather easy and clear-cut hunt, Dean had been missing lately. Sam seemed to agree, at least he hadn’t voiced any complaints.

“Great, I’d say you’ll watch this one,” Leo addressed Dean pointing at one of the marked locations, “While Kyle and I take this one and Sam goes for the last.”

The older Winchester nodded his consent. It seemed only logical that the other two would have to team up, since one of them was already wounded. Besides Dean knew what he and Sam could do, but he wasn’t quite so sure about the other pair, so the arrangement suited him well.

It wasn’t that the others didn’t look and sound like they knew what they were doing, but Dean would rather not have to put too much trust into people he had only just met. Lives were at stake in this, after all.

They exchanged phonenumbers, so they could stay in touch and call for reinforcement once they knew which person they were actually after before Leo and Kyle left to check their equipment.

“What do you think?” Sam asked after the other two had left the diner for good. He hadn’t seen anything suspicious about the case, but it couldn’t hurt to check with his brother. The way Dean was clearly more interested in his pie, than anything else, was already sort of an answer, though.

“A clear-cut case and awesome pie,” Dean answered and shrugged lightly, “What’s not to love?”

 

* * *

 

 

Sam and Dean had split up well before the moon would rise to be on the safe side, and apparently Leo and Kyle had done the same. Sometimes Sam wondered how hunters had worked their cases before the invention of the mobile-phone, or before the invention of regular phones, even. Then again, the entire infrastructure had been different in those days and, to be completely honest, modern technology might make many things easier, but it wasn’t the only reason they worked in most cases.

The neighborhood he was in was nearly completely quiet, which put Sam on edge for some reason. Call it gut-feeling or just paranoia, but something wasn’t right there. It wasn’t helping that the lights were on in the nice little one-story home he was watching, but he hadn’t seen any movement inside yet.

Sam considered sending Dean a text-message, but then again he didn’t really have anything to say, other than ‘I have a bad feeling about this’, and Dean would mock him mercilessly if it turned out he had been wrong in the best case. In the worst case people would have died because of him, yet again.

So instead of contacting anyone, Sam sneaked closer to get a better picture of the situation. He had his weapons on him and a pretty good idea of what might be waiting for him. What was the worst that could happen?

A peek through the nearest window made a deep frown appear on Sam’s face. The room was basically empty, which seemed unusual enough to warrant a mention at their briefing in the diner earlier that day. Then again, maybe the other two hadn’t gotten this close, or maybe Jack Harker – suspect number three – was in the process of moving, with or without being the werewolf.

Sam was really thinking about telling the others about this new development, when his eyes fell on a bloody spot on the floor. All thoughts about having a little chat about missing furniture with his brother were thrown out of the proverbial window. Instead, Sam kept a tighter grip on his gun and quickly kicked the door open.

He had been ready for a lot of things, but not for what really was waiting for him.

 


	2. Chapter 2

** 2 **

 

“Drop the gun,” Leo demanded.

It wasn’t like Sam had much of a choice, as two guns were aimed at him that very moment, so even if he could be faster than one of them, the other one would get him for sure. He slowly raised his hands defensively and let the gun drop to the floor. Going along with their demands should give him some time at least.

He wondered how long it would take until Dean would think about contacting either one of them, but he was quite sure that it would be too long. He’d have to come up with something by himself, only that seemed pretty damn impossible in the position he was in.

“Didn’t think you could just start the Apocalypse without there being consequences, did you?” Kyle asked in a venomous tone.

If Sam had had any hopes that they wouldn’t actually shoot him, they were gone after seeing the unmasked hate directed at him by those two.

“I’d really like to know who’s spreading that rumor. It’s getting out of hand,” he tried to get them to at least doubt about his case, but really he knew it was senseless. The two hunters had clearly made up their minds and thought this through, which couldn’t mean anything good for him.

As little as Sam liked the thought, but it seemed letting the last hunters, who had confronted him about this, go had been a bad move. He liked the thought what it would say about him, if he had just murdered them in cold blood, even less however.

“When it was just Gordon Walker talking about how you were some sort of demon child, anti-Christ, whatever it was he believed that was just a madman talking,” Leo spoke in a deadly cold tone, gesturing for Sam to move toward the living room, “But it is getting hard to ignore how certain things always seem to happen around you.”

If the other hunter wouldn’t have been clearly capable of doing basically anything, Sam might have pointed out how the same things were happening around Dean. It wasn’t like many people had been present for most of the incidents they were talking about, and most of those who had been present were people Sam trusted without a doubt. There could only be rumors and very few actual witness reports. Pointing out that most of the witnesses of anything being unusual about Sam were dead, in fact, wouldn’t help him any either though.

Actually, at this point the younger Winchester started to wonder what would happen, if either of them pulled the trigger. It wasn’t a question about what Dean would do once he found out, either. It was more of a question about what Lucifer or the angels would do. As Sam understood it, he had to be alive to give his consent to Satan taking over his body, which was a pretty safe guess, if you thought about it. So everybody, who wanted the Apocalypse to happen the way it apparently was supposed to, would be interested in Sam being alive.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about the thought of being brought back to life just to be Lucifer’s meat-suit. No, scratch that, actually he knew quite well how he felt about that possibility. It sucked big time!

“Have you ever thought about the job we’re doing? Of course there’s freaky stuff happening!” Sam went for the logical argument, yet again. Keeping them talking and listening at the very least would make time pass, and that would give Dean a chance to catch on and come to the rescue, or get shot himself. Damn, the options really sucked out loud!

“You know, Sam,” Kyle started with a snort, “Save your breath. You were the one to confess to some of our friends, after all.”

That was the moment when Sam really wished with all his heart that he had killed those hunters back then and if that made him a horrible person or less of a human being even, then he didn’t care. Like he had to worry about where his soul would be going, anyway, he was the freaking vessel of the freaking devil!

“I don’t like it when other people take all the credit for my hard work,” the sickeningly sweet voice of a little blonde girl waved through the broken front door before the conversation between the three men could go any further.

Sam could basically feel how he turned paler. Other than the other two, he recognized the demon in front of him immediately. He knew what she was capable of and he had thought he knew that she was dead.

“Lilith,” he whispered and swallowed heavily. Talk about making a bad situation worse! It wasn’t very often that Sam felt close to actual panic, but that moment he did.

Leo and Kyle were quick on the uptake, realizing that something was definitely very wrong with the little girl just moments after the younger Winchester had recognized her, but that didn’t help them any. Lilith had them both disarmed and pressed up against the nearest wall within the blink of an eye.

Sam sort of envied them their locations as soon as the young blonde walked up to him, however.

It looked like the other two hunters were trying to say something, or maybe just shout out loud, but they were lacking their voices for the moment being.

“I’ve been working on the entire Apocalypse so hard,” Lilith stated with a pout that would have looked natural on the face of any actual little girl, “And now everybody is saying that you did it! Meany!”

From their position against the wall Leo and Kyle were looking at Sam and Lilith with big eyes. Sure, if a demon told them of Sam’s innocence, they believed it immediately! Not that the younger Winchester would even dream of complaining about that.

Something was very definitely wrong, however, and it wasn’t only that Lilith was supposed to be dead.

Castiel had been dead and had been brought back. It didn’t seem too likely that the same power had brought Lilith back, but if the – technically – good guys could do it, then surely the bad guys would have their ways as well. Hell, for all Sam knew, this might be Lilith’s reward for being so successful with breaking the seals.

Why would she go and sort of testify in favor of Sam, however?

Oh, there might be a million reasons for that, but none the younger Winchester would like any, for sure.

“It’s too bad that none of you will be left alive to spread the real story,” Lilith mused before she clapped and added with childish glee, “I’ll just have to kill all the other liars as well then!”

All three men were struggling, but neither of them were getting anywhere with it. A very little but vocal part of Sam wished to have some of his psychic powers back, if only so he’d have a fighting chance. Of course, thoughts like these were the exact reason why he was in this exact situation in the first place.

Lilith moved to stand in the middle between her three victims before she pointed her finger at Sam and started to recite a counting-out rhyme.

“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers, let him go, eeny, meeny, miny, moe,” she sing-songed, before her finger once more landed on the younger Winchester, “Yay, you won!”

Sam had been about to start to protest, but before he could say even one word Lilith stared at the front of her pink, frilly dress, where a red stain was rapidly forming. She fell to the floor, which confirmed what Sam had thought had happened the second he had caught sight of his older brother, behind her. The knife was still sticking out of Lilith’s back, which made for a very gruesome picture. The demon had had possessed a little girl after all, but there had been nothing else Dean could have done. Not against a demon of Lilith’s caliber, anyway.

“Hey Sam, sorry, really,” Leo stated after he and his partner had gotten their ability to speak and move back.

Sam didn’t think that saying sorry quite cut it in this case, but since, technically, they had been right with their accusations all along, he didn’t say anything, but just shot them a murderous glare. They got the hint and left in a hurry.

Dean was left standing the only one only knowing half of what had just happened. “What the hell?” he asked, after watching the other two hunters leave like the house was about to be swallowed up by the Earth.

“I’ll tell you later,” Sam promised, his eyes glued to Lilith’s body on the floor. Something about this felt so very off, that he just couldn’t trust that she’d stay dead. Really, how long and how hard had they tried to kill her the first time around? And suddenly the knife alone should have been enough to accomplish that?

“No, Sam, first you three leave me alone with the werewolf, it went over well, by the way,” Dean ranted, though his eyes wouldn’t leave the demon’s body for longer than a second either, “Then I get your text-message –“

The older Winchester didn’t get to finish his statement, because his brother interrupted him. “What do you mean? What message?”

“The one about your sorry ass being in danger,” Dean elaborated a little, which didn’t help Sam to understand what had happened.

“I didn’t send you one,” the younger Winchester replied in a definite tone of voice. Sure, he had wished he would have gotten to notify Dean in some way, but he knew for a fact that he hadn’t.

“I did,” the body on the floor started to speak, which made both Winchesters jump. Dean immediately reached for his gun and Sam quickly moved to pick the one he had had to drop before up.

What happened then wasn’t the freakiest thing they had ever seen by far, but it surely was unexpected all the same. Before their eyes the young girl transformed into a man they both could identify easily enough.

“Gabriel,” the brothers exclaimed nearly in unison.

“The one and only,” the archangel replied, as casually as a man lying on his stomach with a knife in his back could. The smirk that just had to be on his face could be heard in his voice. “Now take that knife out of my back, it’s getting itchy!”

Dean didn’t move, but Sam pulled the knife out of the angel’s flesh. After all the guy had just saved his neck for all it looked like, though Sam had a hard time believing that he had done it out of the goodness of his heart.

“That’s better,” Gabriel sighed contently and stretched excessively as he stood in front of the Winchesters.   
“Somebody tell me, what the fuck happened here this instant!” Dean demanded hotly because there just were too many things he didn’t know about.

“Oh, I just saved your brother’s sorry ass and made sure that the next rumor about the Apocalypse will not be about him, but about Lilith,” Gabriel explained with a casual shrug, “Nice to see you, too. We have so much to talk about!”


	3. Chapter 3

** 3 **

 

Back at their motel room, Sam and Dean managed to put the pieces of what exactly had happened over the course of the evening together.

Apparently, Leo and Kyle had known about the identity of the werewolf all along, but instead of dealing with it, they had chosen to take their chance to get the younger Winchester alone while his brother was busy with the monster. How they had thought they might ever be able to completely get away with it would have to stay a mystery, however. Dean used a lot of very colorful swear words during the conversation which seemed to amuse Gabriel to no end.

The archangel was leaning against a wall casually sucking on a lollipop he had conjured out of thin air. “Congrats, Dean-o, that one combined blasphemy with being utterly rude,” he commented with a smirk.

“Why is that dick still here?” Dean asked his brother instead of acknowledging what the angel had just said.

Sam just shrugged. Damned, if he knew! Well, Gabriel had said that they had something to talk about, but at the time the younger Winchester had thought that he had just used a figure of speech or made an empty threat. Of course, that was depending on how you wanted to look at it.

“The view around here is just great and the lovely company sells it,” Gabriel deadpanned, though there was a grain of truth in both points. Besides, what were they expecting? He had already told them that there were things to talk about and he wasn’t willing to repeat himself over and over just because they couldn’t be bothered to listen the first time around.

“What did you want to talk about?” Sam asked after a moment of tense silence.

And that right there was why he was Gabriel’s favorite Winchester. Granted, they both were thick and had their moments of complete ignorance, but the younger man showed those tendencies less often, or he was just much better with covering them up.

“I changed my mind,” Gabriel informed the Winchesters in a rather serious tone. There was no use giving them a reason to doubt his words more than they already would, anyway.

It took a few moments of confused staring before both brothers understood what the hell the angel was talking about.

“That’s it?” Dean asked incredulous, “And now you expect us to just believe that you don’t want the Apocalypse anymore? You realize that we remember our time in TV-land, right?”

The Trickster had put a lot of time and effort into convincing them to just play their roles and say ‘yes’ to Michael and Lucifer. That wasn’t something you just forgot! It also made believing into the sudden change of heart all the more disbelieving.

“Ah, those are fond memories,” Gabriel replied, looking quite content with himself as he continued to suck on this lollipop, “But yeah, that’s it. I wanna board the free will train.”

Dean seemed speechless with a mixture of indignation and incredulity. If he could have hurt the angel with his bare hands in any way, he would have. Even as things were, he was very tempted to give in to his urges to punch the Trickster’s stupid face.

Luckily, he was distracted from those thoughts when Castiel called just a few seconds later. Dean quickly answered his phone while trying his best to completely ignore Gabriel’s very presence.

In the meantime Sam and the archangel were just looking at each other. The younger Winchester was trying to figure out if there was even the slightest chance that Gabriel had just spoken the truth.

The archangel on the other hand was looking for any signs of having one of the brothers’ willingness to at least consider trusting him eventually.

They both were reasonably satisfied with what they found.

“Room 12,” Dean finished his conversation with Castiel just a moment before the angel stood before him in person. There was no getting used to someone popping in out of thin air. Not to the point that it wasn’t seriously freaky anymore, anyway.

“Hello, Gabriel,” Castiel greeted the other angel in his usual stoic voice. If he had not tilted his head to the side slightly, there would have been no indication that he was even surprised to see the archangel there.

Gabriel waved his hand in greeting in return. “I’d have called ahead, but I didn’t have your number,” he joked lightly, “But nevermind me, I’m sure you have more important things to discuss.”

Castiel gave Dean a questioning look. He didn’t think it had been long enough, since he had last seen the brothers, for them to form an alliance with Gabriel, but humans could be very impulsive and complicated, especially if their last name was Winchester.

“Hell no!” Dean exclaimed immediately, “We’re not just acting like you’re one of us now!”

The older Winchester just wasn’t buying Gabriel’s sudden change of heart. He wasn’t buying that the archangel wouldn’t betray them to his brothers the very second he got a chance to do it. And hell, he couldn’t believe the nerve of the guy to just show up and act as if none of the things - ranging from mildly annoying to plain horrible - he had done to them had ever happened.

“Do I have to sign a contract first?” Gabriel asked in a slightly mocking tone, “Or is there a membership fee? Oh, do you have a secret handshake?”

“Look, maybe you could just tell us why you changed your mind?” Sam suggested as a compromise of sorts. If the archangel could give them any good reasons, maybe even Dean would accept them. If there were none whatsoever… Well, they’d be better off trying to get as far away from Gabriel as quickly as they could.

“Aww, Sam, always asking me for reasons for everything,” the angel replied in an overly affectionate and nearly completely fake tone before he sobered up some, “Let’s just say I realized how fond I really am of this world and I don’t want to see it destroyed. There is a very little chance that just staying out of everything, instead of choosing a side that’s neither Lucifer’s nor Michael’s, might have been – I’m not saying coward – but yeah.”

He wasn’t even lying about that. There was no need for him to add how exactly he had come to that conclusion, however. He had added the latter part of the explanation to appeal especially to Sam’s more trusting side. Apparently it had a positive effect on Castiel’s opinion on the topic as well, though.

To tell the truth, any reason the archangel could have come up with wouldn’t have made a difference in Dean’s eyes, but to his great annoyance both Sam and Castiel seemed willing to give the dick a chance. The older Winchester didn’t see the point in arguing about this with both of them at the given moment, but that didn’t mean he had to like it, or even act like he did.

“Uh, right, Cas, so anything new about Crowley?” Sam finally asked awkwardly, if only to get to another topic that would hopefully give them all something new to talk about. Besides, the fact that they were looking for Crowley alone wasn’t absolutely top-secret, so sharing that little detail with Gabriel around shouldn’t do any harm. It wasn’t like the archangel would know why they were looking for the demon in the first place.

The younger Winchester hadn’t anticipated the reaction his question would get out of Gabriel however.

“What the hell are you morons doing with Crowley?” he demanded to know even before Castiel could have said anything, “With all the good it has done you idiots this far, one might think you’d stay as far away from _the king of the crossroads_ as you possibly can!”

To say that the others were surprised by that little outburst would be an understatement. Even Dean’s disgruntled expression made way to a more puzzled one.

“We’re… we’re _not_ trying to make a deal, if that’s what you think,” Sam clarified cautiously. He stored the newly gained knowledge about Crowley away for further reference, however. Of course, there was no way to tell just how serious Gabriel had been when he had given Crowley that title, but you never knew what might become useful.

“And if we were going to sell our souls, it wouldn’t be any of your business, either,” Dean commented icily. No need to give the stupid Trickster a reason to believe that his opinion mattered any!

It didn’t make any sense for Gabriel to look troubled because of what his older brother had just said, so Sam dismissed what he thought he had seen as some sort of misinterpretation. The younger Winchester assumed that it would be very easy to read angels wrong, anyway. After all, most of them couldn’t be read at all. It seemed most of them had very expressionless faces. And those that showed any emotions didn’t seem to have a wide variety of those. Castiel, for example, was either confused or stoic in most cases. Zachariah was either angry or malicious. Other than the latter, Cas seemed to be learning and adapting to a wider bandwidth of feelings. Stoic and confused still described him pretty well most of the time, however.

Gabriel was a whole different story. At least Sam’s observations seemed to suggest so, but he didn’t know the angel well enough to come to any definite conclusions, yet.

And wasn’t it strange how he had just started to assume that he’d get to know the archangel better in the future this quickly? It didn’t look like Gabriel was planning to go away anytime soon, however, so the assumption wasn’t completely without grounds.

“The demon is in possession of the Colt,” Castiel spoke up. He, obviously, didn’t have any reservations about letting his angelic brother in on the bigger picture.

The one thing nobody had yet talked about was how they hoped to kill Lucifer with the gun, but that should be easy enough to figure out, if the archangel decided to give any further thoughts to the topic.

“Oh, so you’re just stealing your gun back,” Gabriel replied nodding contently, “I can get behind that plan.”

A gun that could kill pretty much anything shouldn’t be in the possession of any demon! Furthermore, it might help the Winchesters with about everything the Apocalypse might be throwing at them in the near future. So, getting the Colt back was a good idea in any case. They would have to have a discussion about how they were going to use it after they had retrieved the gun, though.

Gabriel made another lollipop appear and unwrapped it slowly and noisily. Of course he could have just made it appear without the wrapper, but where was the fun in that? Besides, the annoyed glare the older Winchester gave him, because of the noise, was well worth having to wait a couple of moments longer.

“So glad to have your approval,” Dean snarked automatically, trying and failing to ignore that Gabriel was at least as noisy with eating his candy as he had been with unwrapping it.

Finally finding Crowley should have been a good moment, but of course the fourth wheel on the three wheeler had to ruin it all! Sure, usually Dean preferred everything with four wheels, but there was an exception to every rule and – alright, maybe he had to come up with a different analogy.

“So glad you’re already starting to appreciate my input,” Gabriel shot back without showing any signs of acknowledging that Dean had clearly been sarcastic.

Listening to the exchange Sam started to wonder which one of those two would snap first, if the archangel really stayed around them for a longer period of time. He sort of hoped that it would be Dean, if only because Gabriel completely losing his temper had the potential to have consequences of – as strange as the thought might be at the current time – Apocalyptical dimensions.


	4. Chapter 4

** 4 **

 

“I don’t like this,” Dean muttered under his breath.

“I got that the last twenty times you said it,” Sam shot back, “Would you have preferred to put Jo in danger? Because I remember you protesting –“

The younger Winchester was cut off when his brother interrupted him with a rude gesture. They both knew that Sam was right, though.

Figuring out where they could find Crowley had only been step one on the long path to get the Colt back.

Getting into the building was the second step. Unfortunately, the demon seemed to be prepared against a lot of things and had his house protected against human invaders as well as unwanted angelic ones. Thus, neither Castiel nor Gabriel could simply pop into the house and get the gun. That didn’t mean that the archangel hadn’t insisted on helping on the outside at least and that was exactly why Dean was in the bad mood he was so thoroughly expressing.

“Come on, Sam, he’s just snapping his fingers and suddenly neither angels nor demons can tell what he is anymore, that’s not suspicious to you?” Dean argued silently, even as they watched Gabriel approach the gate to Crowley’s mansion.   
“It only makes sense for someone who stayed undercover for a very long time to be good at hiding,” Sam shrugged slightly. While he had been surprised that Gabriel apparently had the ability to mask every last bit of his angelic presence enough for no one to be easily - or possibly at all - able to identify him as the archangel he was, he had to admit that it was not only very practical but also logical. For some reason, it had unsettled Castiel though, which surely was a part of the reason why it disturbed Dean as much as it did as well.

Maybe the older Winchester would have been a little more relaxed if any of the shows Dean liked had been on TV while they had been waiting for nightfall. Instead, there had been news and documentations and a couple of romance movies. Apparently, romance movies weren’t close enough to ‘Dr. Sexy MD’ and even suggesting that they were warranted a punch to the shoulder.

“Please, just stop defending your little friend,” Dean hissed. He still wasn’t quite over the fact that Sam clearly was not opposed to having Gabriel on the team. “The only positive thing I can say about the guy is that he makes a rather decent woman,” the older Winchester added as an afterthought with a grin.

The female Gabriel had let himself appear to be for the sake of the plan, didn’t look anything like her male counterpart, though, so that didn’t speak as much for Gabriel himself looking feminine in any way as for the archangel’s taste in women, but Sam wouldn’t argue that point.

They didn’t have the time for any more arguments anyway, because the demonic guards had fallen for the trap and had first opened the gate and then abandoned their posts.

The first of the two never even got to know what hit him before Dean stabbed him with the demon killing knife, of course. The other one didn’t fare much better, and while the older Winchester could really appreciate the chance to get rid of some of his pent up frustration, it still annoyed him at least as much that apparently Gabriel didn’t like to smite any demons, unless it really couldn’t be helped at all. He wasn’t even exaggerating there, because those had been the angel’s words and the reason why Dean had had to deal with the demons, even though an archangel, perfectly capable of getting rid of them himself was standing right there.

“Good luck, kiddos,” Gabriel said in the honey-sweet voice that he had adapted with the female body, “You’re on your own from here.”

They both missed the slightly troubled expression that crossed the angel’s face as they parted ways.

 

* * *

 

 

Crowley was exactly what they had expected to find, but only at first sight. Upon further inspection, he was just damn confusing.

Sam lowered the hand that was still holding the knife slowly. The demon had been aiming the Colt at them pretty much from the first second they had laid eyes on him which was as far as Crowley went with behaving the way they had at least sort of expected. He had then proceeded to shoot the two demons that had attacked the Winchesters instead of the Winchesters themselves, which was the point after which things got confusing.

“What the hell –“ Dean began, but was rudely interrupted by the demon.

“Talking business on the hallway is so undignified,” Crowley stated resolutely, “Follow me to my office!”

Between Gabriel and Crowley, Sam would be hard-pressed to decide which of them was the more eccentric – not to say odd or plain crazy – one.

“Can we _talk business_ here then?” Dean asked in a voice that was dripping with sarcasm. He had had it with antics of all the _unconventional_ people that seemed to drop into their lives suddenly!

“Naturally,” Crowley replied completely unfazed by the tone and all in all hostile manner the other man was displaying, “I want you to take this gun and empty it into Lucifer’s face.”

A few seconds of completely stunned silence followed.

All that was missing was Crowley saying that he wanted to ‘board the free will train’ for Dean to lose his last nerve. Really, if that should happen, the older Winchester would have to just assume that Gabriel had trapped them in some alternate universe yet again.

“Wait, you are giving us the Colt so we can kill Lucifer with it?” Sam asked with a deep frown. What was it with everyone suddenly being on their side like this? “What’s in it for you?”

“The death of the devil, obviously,” Crowley replied in a tone that left no doubts about how stupid he thought the younger Winchester was for even having to ask.

“Right, and you would want that because?” Dean prompted somewhat impatiently.

Breaking into the house, killing the demon, taking the Colt and then shooting Lucifer with it was one thing, them getting the gun as a present and doing Crowley a favor by killing Lucifer seemed like a completely different one.

“Two things,” the demon said in a tone that grew sharper as he went on talking, “Lucifer is not one of us and, in case you haven’t noticed, angels and demons are not exactly friends. Once he’s done with the bunch of cockroaches you call humanity, he’ll turn against us –”

“He was the one who made you in the first place!” Sam interrupted only to be cut off again in turn.

“As soldiers – expendables really – to fight his war, but guess what happens once he’s won his war against heaven!” Crowley explained in an annoyed voice, “Besides, even if his game plan didn’t involve the death of all of us, I like things the way they are. It’s really bad for business when all your potential clients are dead!”

Neither brother could argue with what the demon had just said. If he was right about Lucifer’s plans that was more than enough of a reason to want to stop him, even for one of the devil’s very own creations.

“Look, you morons, I don’t like you, you don’t like me, but you don’t have to love the bartender to buy his beer, to use an analogy you’ll understand,” Crowley finished holding the Colt out for one of them to take and then added exasperatedly, “I don’t have all day!”

Dean reached for the Colt without thinking much more about it. After all, they had come to get the gun and they would get it, the circumstances wouldn’t distract them from their final goal.

“I don’t assume that Lucifer’s last newsletter said anything about his whereabouts?” the older Winchester added nearly on an afterthought. If they already had to sort of team up with a demon, they might as well get the most out of it, damn it!

“Thursday, birdies tell me, there's an appointment in Carthage, Missouri,” Crowley simply replied before he went on in a much sharper tone, “And you better don’t miss it and him!”

“Don’t worry, our aim is as flawless as it gets,” Dean stated raising the gun and pulling the trigger right in front of Crowley’s face.

“And that’s exactly why I’d have never handed you a loaded gun,” the demon smirked and threw the box with the bullets over to Sam before vanishing into thin air.

“Son of a bitch!” Dean exclaimed. His brother couldn’t have agreed more.

 

* * *

 

 

They were meeting back up with Gabriel, or, rather the angel was waiting for them in Bobby’s salvage yard a couple of hours later.

It wasn’t like they had had much of a choice in the matter. As the archangel had helpfully pointed out, he had found them before easily enough, he would find them again and then he might be a little upset about them trying to leave him behind.

Another malfunction of the Impala’s radio hadn’t done much good for Dean’s mood either, but at least this time they had been able to find a station that had mostly been playing Bon Jovi songs. While that band only rocked on occasion, in Dean’s opinion, it rocked a hell of a lot more than everything else they found.

They hadn’t taken as long as they had thought to reach their destination which explained why Castiel wasn’t anywhere to be seen. If you told the guy to meet you somewhere in five hours, he would be standing in front of you exactly five hours later. His complete ignorance where leeway was concerned was one of the things that made Castiel appear so otherworldly most of the time. It seemed like an important part of who Cas was as well, though.

“I figured it’d be better to wait for you two before showing my face in there,” Gabriel stated casually pointing towards Bobby’s front door with the chocolate bar he was holding.

Besides, there had been a couple of errands to run, but the others didn’t need to know about that. He could barely neglect all his duties only because he had chosen to join the Winchesters, after all. There still were things the Trickster needed to do, people he had to meet, places where he should show his face every now and then and some of those duties even went well with his plan to help the Winchesters out. Gabriel was quite content with his attempts to set things into motion this far, anyway.

“I don’t think it’ll make much of a difference,” Sam replied nearly apologetically, whereas Dean agreed to his brother’s words with a grin. Watching Bobby tear the dick a new one was something the older Winchester was looking forward to. After all the older hunter could be pretty damn scary if he wanted to be and that hadn’t changed only because he was confined to a wheelchair now.

“What? No advice like ‘be nice’, ‘act human’, ‘apologize for what you did the last time you met the man as quickly as you can’?” the archangel asked before they finally walked up to the door.

“Yeah, well, that wouldn’t make much of a difference, either,” Sam shrugged, “But at least Bobby doesn’t know how to successfully kill you – yet.”


	5. Chapter 5

** 5 **

 

As expected, Bobby had pulled out the shotgun the very second he had laid eyes on Gabriel. Nobody was blaming him for it either, not even the archangel, if he was being completely honest.

It was surprisingly easy to keep him from even trying to shoot the angel, though. In the end, Bobby’s only comment was, “If you two idjits think that he could help, fine.”

That probably said as much about just how hopeless their situation was as it said about how much Bobby trusted Sam and Dean.

It also said a lot that Dean didn’t comment on how little he wanted to have Gabriel there immediately, but whatever exactly the reason for that was Sam would gladly take it.

Castiel had arrived in the meantime and both Ellen and Jo had finally been introduced to the two angels. There was no time to explain the entire situation, so the essentials would have to do for now.

As things were they had managed to get to the point where they could all sit down in Bobby’s living room and discuss the next steps in a very reasonable time.

“To make it short, we’ve got it,” Dean started putting the Colt on the couch table. Granted, everyone could have figured that detail out on their own, but it had seemed like a good point to start from.

“Wait, one question,” Jo suddenly chipped in with a half-hearted glare toward the older Winchester, “Who was the other chick you replaced me with?”

The younger Harvelle got a couple of raised eyebrows for that question.

“On the case… I meant, on the case… I should have lured the guards outside and then suddenly Dean said they had somebody else for the job!” she explained hastily, “So who was she?”

Sam bit back a chuckle and looked over to Gabriel none too inconspicuous.

“No!” Jo replied, mouth slightly agape.

“What? You don’t think I can be irresistible?” the archangel asked wiggling his eyebrows for good measure. If he wasn’t there for a completely different reason, he might have taken that as a challenge. As things were Jo wasn’t on the ‘to do’ list, however.

“Lucifer will be in Carthage, Missouri on Thursday,” Dean interjected. The general mood in the room turned serious again immediately.

“So, we’ll make sure we are there in time and get close enough to shoot him,” Ellen stated in a very matter of fact way.

“Objection!” Gabriel exclaimed immediately which made sure that he had everyone’s eyes on him.

“It was _you_ who said that he wanted to help us kill the devil -,” Dean argued clearly pissed off but not in the least surprised that the archangel was already turning out to be a nuisance, not to say hindrance.

“First, I never said I’d help you _kill_ Lucifer. I said I was going to help you avert the end of the world, big difference,” Gabriel shot back, “And second, you can’t kill him with that gun. _It just won’t work!_ ”

The two men angrily stared at each other, while Sam, Bobby, Ellen and Jo exchanged slightly uncertain looks. They couldn’t just dismiss the information Gabriel had just given them, not if there was the slightest possibility that the angel wasn’t lying to them and knew what he was talking about.

Meanwhile Castiel just looked at the Colt with a thoughtful expression before he gave his brother a measuring look instead. The days when he would just follow orders and believe things without ever questioning them were over, but he also couldn’t see any trace of deception in Gabriel. Thinking of how easily his brother had managed to hide his entire angelic nature from him made Castiel wonder if he couldn’t just as easily hide dishonesty, though.

“Are you completely sure about that?” Bobby asked in a rather hard tone, “And I am talking one hundred percent certainty here.”

Everyone fell silent for the moment Gabriel needed to collect his thoughts

“Absolutely,” he said sincerely with a completely serious expression on his face.

Sam closed his eyes for a moment and his face fell. This had been their chance. An actual chance! Only that it wasn’t one. The others seemed to take the news equally hard.

“We need a new plan,” Dean broke the silence after some time had passed, “Lucifer is going to be there. Whatever he wants in Carthage can’t be good for us or anyone else. So, what are we going to do about it?”

This time Gabriel didn’t argue, but just stood up and was gone within the blink of an eye.

“Good riddance,” Dean muttered under his breath.

 

* * *

 

 

Hours later Sam stepped onto the front porch to catch some fresh air.

Naturally, they hadn’t figured some other way to stop Lucifer out just like that and the longer the younger Winchester thought about it, the more the entire situation frustrated him. Staying in there any longer would have been no use to anyone. He and Dean would only have been at each other’s throat sooner or later.

“How’s it going in there?” Gabriel asked suddenly standing next to Sam.

“As good as you’d expect,” the younger Winchester replied as if he hadn’t just jumped slightly in surprise, “To be honest, I wasn’t sure if you were still going to stick around.”

In fact, none of them had known what to make of the archangel’s sudden disappearance. It could have meant anything, really. Jo had brought the question if he’d come back eventually up after Gabriel had been gone for over an hour. Castiel’s only comment to that had been a dryly spoken, “He has left everyone behind before”.

“Oh please, I just didn’t think you’d appreciate it if I turned your brother into one of his beloved pies or a toy Impala in front of your eyes,” Gabriel replied with a casual shrug. Those were only the most harmless things he could have thought of doing to the older Winchester, too.

“Right, because _that_ would have traumatized me, after –“ Sam stopped himself from finishing the statement, “Know what? Let’s not talk about that right now.”

It was surprising the younger Winchester that there was silence after his statement. He hadn’t thought that silence was a possibility around Gabriel, but apparently it was.

Sam sighed and sat down by the edge of the porch stretching his legs. For some reason, the angel took this as an invitation to join him.

“Fun fact,” Gabriel spoke into the silence, “Mary actually asked a couple of times if I was fucking kidding her - in Aramaic, of course – before she’d accept the entire immaculate conception thing.”

The younger Winchester gave the archangel a disbelieving look even as the corners of his mouth curled upward. It was impossible to tell if Gabriel had been completely or even mostly honest about this, but it didn’t really matter, anyway.

“Why are you telling me that?” he asked amused at first, but then his mood changed for the worse pretty quickly, “I swear, if this is about ‘ _accepting your destiny’_ –“

The other man looked so taken aback at the accusation that Sam was sorry for jumping at his throat nearly immediately.

“Woah, hold your horses, Samson,” Gabriel replied with a slightly forced amused smile, “It just looked like you were brooding hard enough to hatch an ostrich.”

Even though the atmosphere between them went back to cautiously amiable, the little episode had made very clear that Sam didn’t trust him further than he could throw the – compared to the Winchester – little angel. Then again, Gabriel would bet that Sam could theoretically throw him pretty far, so that was something. He had to admit that he had kidded himself into believing that it would be much easier to become a part of the team and gain their trust. Scratch that, he had thought it would be much easier to gain Sam’s trust.

It was sort of frustrating to be completely genuine for once and have nobody believe it. With that thought Gabriel willed a lollipop into existence and on second thought offered another one to the other man.

Sam took the sweet. He just twirled it between his fingers deep in thought once more, though.

“You’re doing it again,” Gabriel pointed out, “Ostriches will never face extinction if you go on like this, which is the good news. You’ll probably develop completely unnecessary and very unattractive wrinkles at an early age though, which is the bad news.”

“We have two days to come up with a new way to stop the devil, excuse me for having to _think_ about that,” the younger Winchester huffed and moved to stand up before a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“ _Unnecessarily_ think about it, you mean,” Gabriel stated in a somewhat apologetic tone, though, “Look, if there was anything that could be done on such short notice, I’d have told you, trust me.”

Sam’s snort was somewhat sobering and once more reminded the angel that nobody was willing to trust anything he said or did. Hell, if he couldn’t get the younger man to let go of his distrust then he had absolutely no chances with Dean or Bobby.

“You keep saying you want to help us, but you’re not doing –,“ the younger Winchester began before he stopped speaking, a deep frown appearing on his face, “You’re still hiding. You say you want to help us, but you’re still hiding from your family.”

There was no better confirmation for his guess than the way Gabriel was so very clearly flustered while trying to appear scandalized.

“That’s why you didn’t want to smite any demons,” Sam added on an afterthought, because that was the best example he had. Actually, he hadn’t had any real proof until the archangel had reacted to his assumptions.

“And what’s that to do with anything?” Gabriel asked nonchalantly. He had taken a moment to pull himself together and build up some righteous anger at being accused of something that was so clearly not true.

“You obviously don’t want to use any of your powers,” Sam replied before his eyes fell on the lollipop he was still holding, “Okay, none of your greater powers.”

“Hello? I trapped you in an alternate reality for how long?” the archangel shot back with vigor. Usually bringing that up would not speak in favor of any of his motives, but this case was the exception. After all, that had taken a lot of power and the other man would have to acknowledge that as well.

“That’s the part that doesn’t make sense,” the younger Winchester admitted with a shrug, “Maybe I should just ask Cas how exactly angelic powers work.”

It was a bluff and the greater part of Gabriel knew it, but his most impulsive part had already made him stand up and walk toward Bobby’s front door, only looking back for a moment to make sure that Sam was following him.

The younger Winchester had basically jumped up the moment the archangel had started to move with a nearly scary amount of determination in his eyes. If he had caused whatever was going to follow, then he should at least be present to witness it and try to cut the losses.

Everyone else was still gathered in the living room trying to do some research or otherwise come up with ideas, but it didn’t look like they were getting anywhere with it, not that Sam had honestly expected anything else.

“What the hell?” Dean spoke up rather startled with Gabriel’s sudden reappearance. He obviously didn’t quite like the archangel’s entire posture. Ellen and Jo seemed a little unsettled, as soon as they noticed his very determined behavior that could just as easily be read as aggression, as well.

“What do you think you are doing, you half-wit?” Bobby asked narrowing his eyes, because it seemed that the archangel was heading for him and saying that he liked that was as far from the truth as it could get.

“Proving a point!” Gabriel simply replied before he put his palm against the older man’s forehead for a moment, “I suggest you get out of that chair now, unless you enjoy having wheels.”

Bobby frowned. Who could blame him for not quite believing it, though? It would have been a very cruel joke if the angel had just lied, but then again the Trickster was known for his cruel sense of humor. It didn’t help with the anxiety Bobby was feeling, but not showing, that everyone was staring right at him.

It brought a smile to basically everyone’s face when he was finally standing and taking a few experimental steps. Gabriel, however, just turned around and faced Sam again.

“Every single member of my family he’ll come across in the future will be able to tell that this was my work,” he said in a very matter of fact tone, “Happy now?”

Happy wasn’t quite the word to describe Sam’s feelings, but he was grateful, for sure. And maybe a little impressed…


	6. Chapter 6

** 6 **

 

“What the hell did you talk about out there?” Dean asked his brother in a hushed tone.

Since killing the devil seemed to be off the menu, they would have to come up with a plan to stop him from doing whatever he was up to instead. Of course, they would first have to even have the faintest idea what they were stopping him from.

Both angels were standing next to Bobby’s desk looking through texts in languages none of the others would be able to read fluently, thus giving the brothers some time to talk without them hearing. Well, without them standing right next to the Winchesters and making talking about one of them very awkward, at least.

Sam could only shrug. “I make a half-baked accusation, next thing I know he’s walking in here and heals Bobby.”

In fact, he had more information than that but he didn’t quite know how to share it. Gabriel had given up hiding, apparently, but the why’s and how’s were mostly a mystery to the younger Winchester.

Apparently, giving Bobby the use of his legs back would leave some sort of mark on the older man that would allow all angels – and possibly other beings as well – to figure out that it had been Gabriel who had done the healing. This much was clear at least.

Of course, that was assuming that they could trust Gabriel enough to assume that he had spoken the truth about it.

“Sam,” Dean just said in a warning tone. If there was more to it then he wanted to know, damn it! It never ended well for them when Sam started to hide things from him and Dean wouldn’t just stand by and watch things get out of hand anymore. Besides, he really hated feeling like he was being left out of something.

“Look, I figured that he didn’t want to smite those demons back at Crowley’s because he’d have to come out of hiding if he started to use his powers like that. That’s what I told him and you’ve seen what happened after,” Sam gave a longer explanation, for peace sake. “If you have an idea what that means, please do tell, ‘cause I don’t.”

For all it looked like, Dean wasn’t more content after hearing more details, but at least he seemed to believe that Sam had given him the entire story. That was something, right?

Maybe Gabriel’s continued presence had given Dean someone he trusted even less than he did him at least, Sam mused somewhat bitterly.

Granted, he knew what he had done to deserve the mistrust and he could understand where it came from, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt like hell to feel like he was merely tolerated in the team he used to be a trusted and – as he liked to think – irreplaceable part of. Of course, the _good old days_ in their case were still filled with ghosts, demons, monsters, Azazel and his plans and death and destruction in general.

However, before Sam could get even more into the mixture of self-hate and self-pity he had piled up, a lollipop – hopefully not the same one he had left lying outside earlier – appeared right in his mouth. He immediately shot Gabriel an annoyed glare across the room.

Maybe Cas didn’t know the meaning of personal space, but the other angel’s lack in understanding boundaries was worse. Or, more likely, the archangel understood boundaries perfectly well and just chose to ignore them whenever it seemed convenient. There was no question about which was worse.

Gabriel, of course, only grinned back and shot the younger Winchester a look that quite clearly said, “You were doing it, _again_!”

Yes, Sam got the message loud and clear: The archangel didn’t like it when Sam was brooding. Most likely, he just didn’t want to watch anyone brood. Then again, nobody but the younger Winchester was currently sucking on a lollipop.

At the other side of the room Gabriel was still grinning to himself throwing sideway glances over to the Winchester brothers. Castiel was eyeing his own brother curiously and slightly puzzled in turn.

After a few moments, Bobby cleared his throat noisily. “If you two featherbrains don’t mind,” he grumbled pointing at the books on his desk. They weren’t going to read themselves and it wasn’t like they had so much time to spare. After all, once they had figured out what Lucifer was up to, they’d still have to come up with a possibility to stop him and they had less than two days. It already looked like they weren’t going to get any sleep until Thursday was over.

“There are just too many possibilities!” Jo complained from her place in an old arm-chair where she was going through some other books, “There’s a ton of rituals and spells and I’m not even half-way through!” She was only working on a fraction of the books Bobby had handed out to all of them earlier and it didn’t help that she was sure there would be even more spells and rituals in the books the others were working on, either. This wasn’t the needle in the haystack, it was the one specific needle you didn’t know the specifics of in a stack of needles!

“I think we can safely limit the search to pretty damn awful stuff,” Dean commented with a shrug leafing through the texts in front of him with as little enthusiasm as the younger Harvelle was.

“Most of these things are pretty damn awful or _worse_ ,” Jo shot back.

“That’s actually,” Sam began to speak before he thought about taking the lollipop out of his mouth. He cleared his throat and started again, “That’s actually a good point. How about we just look for the absolutely worst case scenario? I mean, this is the Apocalypse and we are talking about Lucifer, he’ll go for the worst of the worst!”

Castiel nodded slowly. “There are Revelation signs all over Carthage suggesting something very grave.”

There were no objections to what the two had just said. After hours and hours of mulling things over they all had become a little blind to the obvious, but at least they now had the renewed feeling of getting somewhere.

“Okay, what’s the very worst about the place?” Dean asked while continuing to look through the current book in front of him.

“The battle of Carthage,” Bobby answered pushing some books aside and reaching for the one with the chapter about the battle, “It happened during the Civil War. The soldiers called it the Battle of Hellhole.”

And if that didn’t sound like something that might draw the devil to that town in particular, nothing would. Granted, they were mostly making assumptions and guesses, but they didn’t have much to go by to begin with.

“So, a lot of people died there,” Jo summed the new information up, “And there’s probably a bunch of ghosts and bad vibes in general. Unless he wants some sort of alliance with the dead, that doesn’t really help much.”

For some reason the young woman’s words kicked Gabriel into action. He grabbed one of Bobby’s previously discarded books and easily found the part he was looking for showing the page to Castiel whose eyes widened a little before he put it in front of the older hunter.

“Not _the dead_ ,” he said out loud for the others, even as Bobby’s frown deepened while he was reading, “Death.”

Silence fell once more as they were trying to digest the news. Of course, they could take some consolation from the fact that they were only guessing here, but at the same time what the archangel had just said simply screamed _Lucifer_ and _Apocalypse_.

“Death,” Dean repeated after a couple of completely quiet seconds, “As in, the skeleton with the black robe and the scythe?”

“We have no way of knowing what exact form he will choose once he is brought to this world,” Castiel replied completely seriously. Humans were so stuck up on appearance, the angel mused. Of course most humans didn’t change their entire appearance once they were grown up and there was a more or less strong likeness between the child someone had been and the adult they would eventually become more often than not. Still it boggled Castiel’s mind that they were applying the same standards to all other beings, especially being that were not of this world, as well. Most of the time it even seemed to slip their minds that he only looked like Jimmy Novak since he had come to Earth.

Of course, they couldn’t see his real form shining through his vessel like another angel or demon would be able to, though. This was why it had bothered him to discover that Gabriel could disguise the presence he gave off to other supernatural beings to the point of not looking anything like an angel anymore, too.

“The horseman, Death,” Bobby confirmed putting the book aside again, “As in, this guy walks around freely, you better built a real big boat and prepare yourself for forty days and forty nights of rain.”

Ellen snatched the book from Bobby’s desk to take a closer look herself, but the first paragraph already made clear that they were in deep shit. Much deeper than usually even. Wasn’t it ironic that something like the Apocalypse could get even worse?

“What do you look so happy about?” Ellen asked Gabriel in a sharp tone and with a heated glare.

“This is good! This is actually really good!” the archangel replied energetically. He only got very confused looks and glares for that little outburst, however.

“Are you mental?” Dean yelled jumping off his seat and taking a few steps towards the crazy angel before his brother stopped him.

“We can’t _kill_ Lucifer,” Gabriel elaborated before somebody else could lose their nerve, “But we can _trap_ him again! I didn’t say anything, because we need the rings of all four horsemen to pull that stunt off and I had the slight feeling that you wouldn’t be up to slaughtering lots of people as an offering just to pull him to Earth –“

“We’re not letting Lucifer do that, either!” Dean interrupted the archangel outraged. Really, with Gabriel and his complete lack of decency and morals – as the older Winchester saw it, anyway – on the team they might as well accept a demon next time. Hey, they should have asked Crowley, if he didn’t want to join full-time! Thinking about it, why even stop at one?

“As I see it, Dean-o, there is no stopping him,” Gabriel shot back, “And we need Death to walk around as much as Lucifer wants him to. This is the only real possibility we got. It’s Carthage for the world. Doesn’t seem overpriced to me.”

In theory the archangel was right, of course. If they assumed that everything they had put together in the past minutes was true, none of them could say that Gabriel wasn’t right. But the cold logic with which the archangel had just announced that letting an entire town be wiped from existence was no big deal if it saved the world, made the fact even harder to digest.

“So, what? We just sit here with our thumbs up our asses?” Bobby asked in a gruff tone that held some hints of acceptance already, though. He had learned long ago that you couldn’t win every battle and you couldn’t stay sane if you didn’t manage to deal with that. Personally, Bobby planned to deal with it with figuring out how to win the greater battle and with a bottle of whiskey.

“There are other battles to fight as we speak,” Castiel pointed out in a solemn tone and that was something they could all agree with, at least.


	7. Chapter 7

** 7 **

 

For once in their lives, a simple salt and burn was exactly what it said on the tin, simple. It figured that this, of course, was the one time when the Winchesters hadn’t wanted everything to go by quickly and without troubles.

In fact, the entire hunt had been meant to distract them from how it was Thursday, Lucifer was summoning Death in Carthage, and they could do nothing but let it happen. In short, it was exactly the sort of day when being busy the entire time was the only thing that kept you from going insane from thinking way too much.

Of course, as things were, they weren’t busy at all and they still had two hours until midnight. Usually that wouldn’t have been a long time at all, but sitting in one of the generic crappy motels they always found themselves in and waiting for the bad news to start coming it seemed like an eternity.

Sam was doing his best to burry himself in researching possible new cases. He sort of hoped that Ellen and Jo were still busy with the haunting they had agreed to take on. Then again the two of them were a good team and Ellen surely would either distract or comfort her daughter, even if they found themselves in a situation similar to the Winchesters’. This wasn’t to say that he and Dean weren’t a good team, they just weren’t big on the comfort thing.

“Know what? I’m going out!” the older Winchester stated suddenly grabbing his jacket and walking toward the door quickly.

Sam just looked at his brother a little dumbfounded for a moment. “Where to?” he managed to ask just as Dean opened the door.

“Somewhere… anywhere, but here,” his older brother answered in an annoyed tone that was aimed much more at the situation as a whole than at Sam, “Don’t wait up!”

And with that Dean was gone and the younger Winchester was left staring dumbly for a few moments.

“Sure, don’t ask me if I want to come along!” Sam finally yelled at the door and then added a no less loud and just as heartfelt, “Fuck!”

Logically, he knew that Dean just needed some time to figure things out for himself. Logically, he knew that most likely his brother was planning on getting drunk off his stupid ass and didn’t want to have him around just in case he got emotional because of it. Logically, he also knew that he himself wasn’t in the mood to go anywhere and least of all some sleazy bar, but all that didn’t keep him from feeling very dejected and frankly quite angry about it.

There was no way Sam could keep sitting there trying to do research of any kind, and pacing around the room didn’t do any good, either. In the end, he stood close to the wall leaning his forehead against it before a wave of frustration came crashing down on him and he started to hit the flowery wallpaper with his balled fist like it was insulting him.

“You show that wall, champ, you show that wall!” Gabriel’s voice brought the younger Winchester back to the present after moments or minutes – there was no chance that Sam could have told for sure – had passed.

“Go away!” he muttered with as much vigor as he could manage without yelling. To effectively shout he would have had to move further away from the wall and probably look at the archangel first, however.

“Uh, no,” the shorter male stated with a shrug casually leaning against the wall right next to Sam, “You see, Dean-o is out and about to drown his sorrows in the two big Bs.”

He completely ignored the glare the younger Winchester shot at him and went on talking, “Booze and boobs, in case you were wondering. You, on the other hand, are just drowning in your sorrows and that’s where I come in.”

“To help me drown?” Sam asked with a snort. Yeah, that sounded like the archangel, handing him a heavy brick on a rope to hang around his neck when the waters were getting higher by the second. Really, he shouldn’t have been surprised.

“To console you, dimwit!” Gabriel shot back shaking his head as if he couldn’t believe that the human would even think something like that, “Archangel of consolation and mercy and all that.”

That made the younger Winchester chuckle and after a couple of seconds had passed full on laugh. He knew he shouldn’t be laughing at this point, but there was no use trying to stop it from happening. Of all the things, Sam would have never associated with the archangel consolation and mercy were pretty high up on the list.

“I should have added _‘for those who deserve it’_ ,” Gabriel mused to himself equally pleased that he had made the other man laugh and offended that Sam would find his areas of responsibility a laughing matter.

Okay, so splitting characteristics and tasks between archangels and angels in general was mostly a human invention, but since prophets had been involved at most parts, there usually was a grain of truth in the description of their characters. A lot of things had been lost in translation or heavily glossed over as time had passed, however.

For the love of all things holy, Sam was trying to stop laughing, but he couldn’t quite help it.

“Careful, you’re starting to come across a little manic over there, Sammy,” Gabriel added after a couple more seconds had passed. He had materialized a candy bar to distract himself from getting too worried about the human. Sweets barely ever failed to make the archangel feel better.

“Don’t call me that!” Sam finally calmed down instead glaring at the angel again, “As I said, go away! There are none who _deserve it_ around here.”

Because all this was Sam’s fault in the first place! How could he deserve being comforted about something he had brought upon himself and not to forget the entire world? Besides, not even his brother seemed to think that he needed consolation. And, yeah, right, like there would be mercy for him!

“You are reaching Twilight-levels of angst, Sasquatch,” Gabriel pointed out with a half-smirk.

Sam shook his head and exhaled soundly through his nose. Apparently, the archangel was here to stay and wouldn’t leave him alone anytime soon.

The younger Winchester finally moved away from the wall and went over to the table again. If there was no getting rid of the angel, they might as well have a conversation. In the best case Gabriel would get him mad enough so he’d not think of anything else for some time.

“Why are you here?” Sam asked completely ignoring the archangel’s last comment.

It didn’t take long for Gabriel to sit on the other chair. He made two cups of what might have been coffee under all the whipped cream and sprinkles appear as he was thinking about the answer he was going to give.

“Can’t let you get all depressed and mopey,” he said while dipping one of the cookies he had conjured up on a second thought into his coffee.

“Why?” Sam asked taking a sip of his own cup so he wouldn’t appear all too hostile. The chances that the archangel would poison him seemed very slim at this point.

“What’s it with you and asking for reasons?” Gabriel evaded the question.

The younger Winchester didn’t say anything after that and just kept looking at the archangel. He probably shouldn’t have asked for explanations. He wasn’t quite over Gabriel’s reasoning that his bitch faces were hilarious enough to warrant picking on him more than on Dean in TV-land.

“I like you,” the archangel admitted when Sam had already given up waiting for an answer. He said this like it was the most natural thing in the world, as well. What was scariest was just how serious he seemed to be about it, however.

Once more, the younger Winchester couldn’t help staring before he laughed self-depreciatingly for a moment.   
“Yeah, right! Come on!” he stated, the disbelieve written all over his face.

“Do I need to draw you a picture?” Gabriel asked and waggling his eyebrows added, “It might turn out to be a nude, though.”

“Now you’re just being crude,” Sam stated. For a moment, he had nearly been tempted to ask who he would draw, but it hadn’t even taken a second to dismiss that thought. If there was anything that absolutely wasn’t needed, it was giving the little pervert any keywords he could work with.

“Gabriel, thanks, I guess,” Sam added after a second. He needed a couple of moments and some awkward shuffling before he could decide how he wanted to word the rest of the statement. “You’re probably not quite as bad as we previously thought, either.”

It wasn’t much and it wasn’t really a compliment or an expression of sympathy, but at least it wasn’t a lie. Really, after everything the Trickster had made the brothers go through he couldn’t expect anything more. Not after only a couple of weeks had passed since the entire TV-land fiasco and a couple of days since he had first started to help them, anyway.

“Aww, I love you, too, Sammy,” Gabriel cooed despite the reluctant and slightly insulting wording. He went ahead to cuddle Sam before the younger Winchester could do anything against it.

The other man froze in his seat, but that didn’t keep the archangel from hugging him some more before he finally released his victim again.

“That was nice, we should do it again,” Gabriel decided grinning and grabbing another cookie. Probably the other man would reciprocate then, too.

“Are you even capable of being serious?” Sam asked shaking his head in slight annoyance.

“There are so many things I _can_ do, you have _no_ idea,” the archangel replied waggling his eyebrows yet again. That pretty much answered the question, anyway.

There was one thing about having the shorter man around, though. It was highly distracting and Sam really had needed that. He hadn’t thought about Lucifer summoning Death or Dean walking out on him in quite some time. Yeah, having the man around wasn’t all bad, even if it was unsettling and strenuous more often than not.

“You should go get some sleep,” Gabriel announced out of the blue, “You’ve got a lot of work to do come morning and I got other places to be.”

Sam frowned at that, but he wouldn’t ask why the archangel had stopped by for a talk, if he had more important or simply better things to do. He had been lucky to get one straight answer out of the man. He wouldn’t try his luck again that night.

“Like I could sleep –,“ the younger Winchester couldn’t stop himself from saying before a look from the angel made him shut up. Usually, he would have fought tooth and nail and would have never said what he did next, “Yeah, okay.”

Sam went over to his bed and kicked his shoes off before sitting down. Gabriel followed him after he had settled in. The sitting position clearly wasn’t ideal, but everything else would have been too damn awkward for the younger man.

“Good night, Sammy,” Gabriel grinned cheekily before he put two fingers against the younger Winchester’s forehead and made sure that his limp body fell on the bed and not on the floor. There was no use wasting the little bit of trust he had only just gained for what it looked like.

 

* * *

 

 

The next thing Sam knew was that Dean had returned with breakfast. He could smell pancakes, which was as close to an apology as he would get. The younger Winchester could appreciate it for what it was, though.

“Dude, did you go to bed fully dressed?” his brother, who had just come out of the bathroom, asked.

Sam nodded his answer slightly absentminded and they both sat by the table to have breakfast in a rather comfortable silence. There was an unspoken understanding between them that they wouldn’t talk about the previous night and that worked well enough for both of them.


	8. Chapter 8

** 8 **

 

“I shall meet you there then,” Castiel agreed with what Dean had just said over the telephone before he hung up and put his mobile phone back into one of the pockets of his trench coat.

“What are our two favorite humans up to now?” Gabriel asked casually. He had been the one who had searched the other angel out. It had been about time he had a little one on one talk with his brother. Or, rather, he just had had nothing to do and had decided that spending time around the other angel was something to do, at least.

“There seems to be a locust infestation of biblical proportions in and around Hull, Iowa,” Castiel replied in his usual stoic tone. Apparently, the animals were making their way through any available food source, both inside and outside, so fast that the brothers thought Famine might be involved, even. The angel wasn’t quite sure about that, but the entire situation sounded like a case for the Winchesters, anyway.

“Knowing their luck it’ll be flesh-eating locusts. We’d better bring all the bug spray we can find,” Gabriel mused studying the lollipop he was holding like it held the answers to the big questions of the universe. Since the thing refused to share them however, he decided to simply eat it.

“Where does your sudden interest for the Winchesters come from?” Castiel asked with a puzzled expression, “It made sense when you wanted them to give their consent to Michael and Lucifer. However, now I just find it most perplexing.”

The angel’s very direct way of acting and speaking really was something that needed some getting used to. Granted, Gabriel barely ever sugarcoated his words, but he did it specifically to provoke and get a rise out of someone, Castiel on the other hand didn’t seem to understand that he wasn’t acting perfectly normal – from a human point of view – most of the time.

“What do you mean _sudden interest_?” Gabriel asked innocently, “I knew them way before you did!”

Castiel, of course, was not that easily distracted from his question. He didn’t think that the archangel was going to betray them, but he did not quite understand his change of heart yet, either.

“You are not known for getting involved with anything, yet you insist to remain near them,” the angel stated looking at his brother inquisitively, “And you seem to have developed a certain fondness for Sam.”

Gabriel nearly choked on his lollipop at that. Trust Castiel to be completely clueless but too damn observant at the very same time!

“Well, there you have your answer,” he replied with a shrug before he added with a cheeky grin, “No worries, I don’t have any interest in Dean.”

It wasn’t surprising that Castiel didn’t understand that sort of innuendo at all.

“Why would it bother me if you wanted to be Dean’s friend, as well as Sam’s?” he asked with a frown. The angel seriously doubted that the older Winchester would ever truly give Gabriel a chance, but if his brother wanted to try to change that, Castiel would have no objections.

“Aww, sweet little innocent Castiel,” Gabriel grinned shaking his head fondly. There was no chance that the angel was lying or feigning ignorance. He was too much of an open book to successfully pull that off.

Castiel’s frown deepened as he began to understand what the archangel was getting at.

“You are intending to court Sam,” he said in his usual blunt manner.

Gabriel didn’t bat an eye as he answered, “You are making it sound like I want to marry him and have his babies.”

Both of which would be quite impossible. The one, because of restrictions various religious groups weren’t all too likely to lift all that soon and the other, because of obvious anatomical difficulties. Granted, if Gabriel really set his mind to it there was no way to tell what was and wasn’t possible, but he had never gone that far in his considerations.

“What are your intentions then?” Castiel asked seriously.

“Getting him to like me, to begin with,” Gabriel replied with a shrug. That should be easy enough. After all, they had had a rather nice talk just two days ago. He chose to completely ignore the parts that hadn’t gone that well.

“I hear that being polite and kind might help with that,” the other angel suggested. From what he had seen, he would think that being on your best behavior was beneficial to any amorous ambitions you might have. Watching Dean was rather confusing in those matters, however. He did not think that Sam would fall for the tactics that could be used on rather loose women, though. Something that applied to someone who needed more persuasion seemed more fitting.

“No offense brother, but you know nothing about humans!” Gabriel shot back, “They’re all about just being yourself.”

And that should be hard enough to do for someone who had been disguised as someone else for a very long time.

 

* * *

 

 

The locust manifestation really was something. Most of all, it was unusual. Harvest time had been over for a while and even though they were having a mild winter it still was winter. As if they would have needed more reasons to think that something was seriously wrong about a locust plague of biblical proportions!

“Damn!” Dean cursed while carrying his bags into their newest motel room, “Those things _bite_!”

Sam would have disagreed and said that grasshoppers and locusts didn’t bite, but he had felt the sting of one of their bites just a minute earlier, so he would keep his mouth shut about how things should technically be.

This was the damn Apocalypse, of course locusts bite!

Besides, after another hour long drive to the newest charts Dean was already touchy, anyway. Sam made a mental note to remind his brother to check the damn radio out at the next chance he got. The mood the older Winchester was in when he had had to listen to pop music was very close to unbearable.

Once they had brought all their things into the motel room and had killed every single locust that had managed to get into the room, they put their map of the region and various newspaper clipping on the wall where it wouldn’t immediately be visible if anyone opened the door.

The younger Winchester started marking spots on the map and Dean sent a quick text message to Castiel to let their angelic friend know where exactly he could find them.

When Sam was done with the map it became impressively clear that they were right in the middle of the locust infested area. Of course, they had known that before they had come here, but it still felt different to actually see it.

Maybe they were grasping at straws, but the locusts didn’t seem to be moving, so it seemed like a good guess that being right in the middle should be where the thing attracting them in the first place should be.

They weren’t particularly sure that it had to be Famine’s doing either, but it surely wouldn’t hurt to be prepared for the worst case scenario. One of the freaking horsemen of the Apocalypse seemed pretty close to the very worst, even if they needed to seek all of them out at one point or another.

“Now what?” Sam asked looking at his work and not coming up with any immediate ideas of what they should be doing next or where they should start searching.

“Now, we go and have dinner,” Dean replied a little less enthusiastic than he might usually be, but the thought of going back out to the locusts didn’t make him happy.

Some mingling with the townspeople seemed like a good possibility to find out about any strange newcomers – other than themselves – or any signs the newspapers hadn’t written about anyway, though.

“You’d better wear a cap, Sammy, they might get in your hair!” Dean commented with a grin before grabbing his jacket and walking toward the door again.

For once, Sam took the advice without any comments and just covered his head. He really didn’t want any locust bites to the head, so it was easy to admit that Dean had been right this time.

They couldn’t quite decide if it was lucky or not that the diner was just across the street making the use of the car completely unnecessary.

Saying that there were locusts everywhere was no exaggeration. Still, it could have been worse. For the moment being, nearly all of them were sitting around. Dean didn’t want to imagine what it would be like, if all of them decided to take flight at the same time. He faintly remembered seeing a swarm mid-flight once when he had been a kid, but then he had been inside the car just looking outside and, all in all, it had looked pretty cool from the perspective of a kid.

One of the waitresses very quickly ushered them through the door letting her hand linger on Dean’s shoulder a moment longer than strictly necessary, not that he minded.

It was astonishing how many people there were in the place, but then again sitting alone at home wouldn’t have seemed that inviting under the circumstances.

The waitress came back with their drinks quickly and the flirty looks between her and Dean weren’t lost on Sam.

“You know, this day isn’t half bad,” the older Winchester commented looking after the woman when she went back to give their orders to the kitchen.

“And the moment is over,” he added with a groan as Castiel and Gabriel appeared. Seeing Cas wouldn’t have done anything to make the day worse, but the same couldn’t be said for the other angel.

Due to the positions the Winchester brothers had been in, they each had an angel sitting next to them, suddenly.

“Uh, Cas, you’ve got a little something…” Sam trailed off pointing at the angel’s hair.

Castiel turned his eyes upward while the rest of his body didn’t move at all. Dean shook his head at that and just reached over to the angel sitting next to him to pick the locust out of his hair and squish it under a napkin.

“Those things are gross,” the older Winchester commented with a disgusted expression.

“What do you expect from a plague?” Gabriel asked with curiously raised eyebrows, “Butterflies?”

A plague of butterflies surely would look prettier and probably not be much of a plague at all, unless of course, those started to bite or sting all of a sudden, as well.

“Something is not right here,” Castiel stated before Dean could get into an argument with the archangel and immediately got a couple of looks clearly saying ‘you think?’ for his troubles, “This doesn’t feel like Famine’s work.”

Gabriel nodded his consent, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it did feel like, yet. It would come to him in time, he was sure, and this far it seemed like they had some time for once. The locusts hadn’t killed anyone, yet. They just were a great annoyance and inconvenience, much like the archangel was from Dean’s point of view.

“Okay, we’ll hit the library tomorrow,” Sam stated knowing quite well that that ‘we’ was most surely just him, “Maybe we can get some information from the townspeople today.”

They were at the diner already and the older Winchester clearly had made a connection to the waitress so it shouldn’t be too hard to get at least someone to talk. Dean seemed to think along the same lines, because his eyes had wandered over to said waitress as soon as Sam had mentioned talking to the townspeople.

Castiel gave a curt nod. “I will return in the morning,” he said and was gone again. Well, they could always call or text him if something came up before then.

The angel was still searching for God whenever he had a free minute, so it was understandable that he took every minute he could get. Sam often wished that he could still believe in God and a possible happy ending the way Castiel apparently did.

“Don’t _you_ have places to be, as well?” Dean asked Gabriel none too subtle after a moment had passed.

“Nah, somebody has to keep an eye on you two,” the archangel replied nonchalantly before ordering a slice of chocolate cake.

The way Dean was glaring at the angel from across the table during their entire meal made Sam think that they had a very long evening ahead of them.


	9. Chapter 9

** 9 **

 

It hadn’t taken them very long to change their location from the diner over to the local bar. Dean’s waitress, Sherry, had suggested so after saying that her shift was nearly over and she’d just love to go for a drink. Sam and Gabriel had tagged along.

The younger Winchester was sitting by the bar sometimes throwing side-glances to where his brother was teaching Sherry how to play pool. It was quite obvious that she was trying her best not to learn just so he wouldn’t have a reason to let her play completely on her own. It didn’t seem like she would have had to try so hard to keep Dean close to her, however.

Sam wondered if his brother would find the time to actually ask for information on the situation the town was in, then again, he wasn’t being very productive either, so who was he to judge?

Besides, if there had been any immediate danger, they would have worked their asses off. As things were, they could afford to take the evening off. Or mostly off, Sam still had the intention to do some asking around later on.

For the moment, he was rather content with just leaning against the bar and sipping on his beer, even if the archangel was leaning right next to him. In fact, Sam found that he didn’t mind Gabriel’s presence, at least as long as the archangel didn’t say or do anything.

Of course, the moment couldn’t last. The younger Winchester shot a very annoyed glare toward the angel as soon as the first chords of Asia’s ‘heat of the moment’ could be heard through the speakers. Yeah, he would never be able to listen to that song again!

“Hey, I didn’t do anything to _that_ radio, I swear!” Gabriel promised raising his hands defensively. To tell the truth, he wasn’t fond of that song anymore, either. After all, he had had to listen to it for over a hundred days, as well.

“Wait, you messed with the Impala’s radio!” Sam put two and two together after the archangel had so clearly stressed that he hadn’t manipulated the bar’s radio. That realization did nothing to help him calm down.

“Oh, yeah, that,” Gabriel admitted pretty much immediately with a shrug.

“Do you have any idea how insufferable Dean gets when something’s wrong with his car? Oh, why am I even asking? Of course, you know!” Sam ranted on working himself up some more in the process. Actually, he was quite lucky that Dean was as busy as he was, because the younger Winchester surely wouldn’t have wanted him to come over and witness the things that would be spoken next.

“Why do you always have to get annoyed when I am trying to be nice to you?” Gabriel huffed throwing his hands in the air frustrated.

“How is it nice to annoy the living hell out of the guy I have to deal with day in day out?” Sam shot back clearly not understanding what the archangel was trying to make him see, “You know that he hates the sort of music you made us listen to!”

Gabriel knowing that was the only thing that made the entire prank make sense. Besides, it wasn’t so hard to figure Dean out as far as these things were concerned. The Impala, pie, his weapons and his music were the things that nobody was allowed to mess with in any way.

“But _you_ like it!” the archangel replied sighing deeply because the human just didn’t understand anything!

Sam fell silent after that. He had focused on the fact that Dean had been annoyed by the malfunctions of the radio, but now that he thought about it the music had been after his taste mostly. It still made no sense that the archangel would even attempt to do anything nice for Sam. Only, he had and not only with the music, either. He had also shown up to _console_ the younger Winchester and even before that he had tried to cheer him up.

“Why?” Sam simply asked in a somewhat tired tone. He knew that Gabriel was probably getting sick of having his motives questioned every time he spoke to the younger Winchester, but there was always something there he just had to question!

“Remember when you asked me why I was picking on you more than on your brother after you got out of TV-land?” the archangel asked with a small grin. He held his eyes firmly fixed on the fruity and overly sweet drink he had in front oh him, though.

How could Sam have forgotten about that? After all, Gabriel’s answer that his bitch faces were just too hilarious not to want to see them more often had left him feeling very stupid for asking in the first place.

“The answer I gave you was the only one I could come up with at the time,” the angel admitted in a much more serious tone than was usual for him.

The younger Winchester didn’t say anything but just looked at the archangel curiously. He would probably regret trusting that this wasn’t some sort of practical joke in no time, but he couldn’t quite help doing it, either.

“I might have been pulling your pigtails, so to say,” Gabriel finally admitted looking at Sam to see what exactly his reaction would look like.

There was none at first, but then it began to dawn at the younger Winchester and his eyes got wider. In the end, both men were just staring at each other without blinking for a long while.

“Don’t make that picture reality!” was the first thing Sam managed to say. The silence between them had begun to feel seriously awkward at that point.

“That’s all you’ve got to say?” Gabriel asked slightly disappointed. He hadn’t seriously expected any declarations of affection, but this was barely better than not getting any reaction at all. At least the younger Winchester hadn’t seemed to be upset or angry, which was something.

“What were you expecting, Gabriel?” Sam replied a little helplessly, “Look, I don’t really know you and… damn, that’s not even the point. You’re a guy.”

Seriously, he had never questioned his sexual orientation. It wasn’t that he had a problem with gay people he just never had felt any kind of pull into that direction.

Of course there also was that little thing about Gabriel having been an insufferable jerk for most of the time they had known each other. Really, it had only been a couple of days since the archangel had even begun to show that sometimes – not even most of the time – he could be nice.

“Technically, I’m neither male nor female, or I’m both, if you prefer to think of it that way,” Gabriel argued.

Sam sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re not helping your case by reminding me of the… species issue,” he stated not knowing how he could be diplomatic about this. Damn, maybe there just was no gentle way to make sure the other man got the message. Sam wasn’t homosexual or even bi-sexual and Gabriel was technically a man and a completely different species, for a lack of better word. Those seemed to be pretty good reasons speaking against a relationship of any sort.

“Not like that stopped you before,” the archangel persisted. He was dangerously close to pouting at this point. It didn’t look like the younger Winchester would give him any chance to convince him to even consider that at some point of the future they might be able to have some sort of relationship. The things the other man had said were pretty clear about there never being any chance for anything. Especially the second point wouldn’t change no matter how much time passed.

“And it’s done me and everyone else so much good!” Sam shot back in frustration. God, it was impossible to let someone down gently when they just couldn’t take a hint!

“Okay, I get it, let’s not talk about this anymore,” Gabriel caved in. It wouldn’t help his case any, if he made the younger Winchester angry at him. The last word wasn’t spoken on the matter, however. If the archangel could go to the lengths he had already gone to, to be close to the object of his affections, then he could also wait and work a little harder.

Sam seemed to sense that he wasn’t off the hook yet, but for the moment being he just nodded and was content to let the topic rest.

Not a second too early as well.

“Sherry said that there was this one new guy one of her friends told her about just before things went downhill,” Dean told them with a smug smile on his face. It took some serious talent to successfully charm someone and at the same time get information about a hunt!

“Seemed sort of strange, anti-social, withdrawn, yadda yadda. He bought a house on main street two weeks back,” the older Winchester went on talking, “I’d say, since I’ve done all the work this far, you two can follow the leads and I’ll see if I can get some more information out of Sherry.”

Sam didn’t object, if only because it was good to see Dean behave like he hadn’t in some time. Seriously, he had been worried that his older brother might develop something like a severe depression for quite some time. Dean often just didn’t seem to be the same person he had been a couple of years ago. Of course, it was understandable thinking of all the things that had happened to them, but it was worrying nevertheless. All this made the moments when Dean would show that he still had his old self somewhere inside him all the more precious and Sam would do nothing to ruin it.

“Okay, fine, I’ll look into it,” he agreed easily rolling his eyes at his brother’s behavior automatically, however. After all, Dean would think something was completely wrong, if Sam didn’t show some sign about how childish he found his behavior, even if he really didn’t disapprove.

“Good man!” Dean beamed at his younger brother and patted his shoulder, “I’ll see you in the morning!”

Sam shook his head slightly before he finished his beer and handed some money over to the bartender.

“You didn’t put him on anti-depressants or something?” he asked Gabriel without heat, though. He didn’t really think that the archangel had had a hand in Dean’s sudden good mood, but it couldn’t hurt to make sure.

“Me? He’s not the Winchester I want to get laid!” Gabriel replied waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Besides, if he had to guess, he would say that the older Winchester was putting up a very convincing show, partly to convince himself that he could still enjoy this life and partly to convince his younger brother of the same.

“Gabriel,” Sam said in a warning tone, “We weren’t going to talk about this anymore.”

And while the younger Winchester had known that they would talk about it again before long, he had had some hoped that it would take longer than five minutes for the archangel to bring it back up.

“I was merely insinuating things! That’s not the same as talking about it,” Gabriel defended himself in a perfectly innocent voice before he asked, “Do you want me to leave you alone now?”

“Hell no! You’re helping me with this!” Sam replied immediately. He had to admit – if only to himself – that telling the archangel to stay close was much easier than he would have thought after the awkward conversation they had had earlier. Okay, so he was starting to think of Gabriel as a friend in about the same way Dean thought of Cas as his friend. Of course, it was making things complicated that friendship wasn’t what the archangel wanted. Sam couldn’t bring himself to cut him off because of that, though. Some time in the future he might regret that decision, but for the moment being sending the archangel away would feel worse.

“Your wish, my command,” Gabriel stated overly serious before giving the other man a grin.

Even if the younger Winchester didn’t want him quite the same way the archangel wanted him, at least he didn’t want him to go away and not come back, either.

Gabriel wasn’t kidding himself into believing that this would be enough for him for long, but for a while he could be quite content with the way things were.


	10. Chapter 10

** 10 **

 

“What are you doing now?” Sam asked over the book he was reading.

If he was completely honest, he would have to say that Gabriel hadn’t exactly helped him with the research. Actually, he had done nothing but tell Sam that he was doing good while eating M&Ms. Well, it was sort of nice to have his very own personal cheering squad consisting of one somewhat strange and comparatively little archangel. Besides, so far he hadn’t reached a point where he had gotten stuck on his own, so active help wasn’t really needed.

“Just texting Cassy,” Gabriel replied still typing on the keypad of his mobile phone.

Sam frowned slightly, but didn’t say anything to that. After all, he didn’t know if the two angels would have another way to communicate when they were not in the same room. Or rather, he didn’t know how tap-proof angel-radio was.

“Hey, uh…” the younger Winchester scratched the back of his neck slightly embarrassed, “Would you mind… giving me your number? You know, in case we need to reach you.”

That question shouldn’t have been quite that awkward, but knowing that apparently Gabriel had a one-sided crush on Sam it felt sort of wrong to ask the other man for his phone number.

“Might come in handy, huh?” the archangel said in a quite neutral tone, but the look on his face revealed that he was quite pleased about the question, “You’ve had it for a couple of days already. Check your phone.”

The younger Winchester didn’t ask how Gabriel had been added as a contact. Saying the question out loud would probably just make him feel very stupid, anyway. After all, the other man had created a complete alternate universe so why wouldn’t he have the powers to manipulate a simple cell phone? And yeah, he still needed to find out more about Gabriel’s powers. Some things just didn’t make sense with the information he had and Sam was terribly curious, as well. The next chance he got, he’d make sure to come up with the right questions. But he would have to wait for the right time for a conversation like that. Just an hour or two after the archangel admitted that he had some sort of feelings for him wasn’t the time.

“Thanks,” he simply said after a moment and put his phone away again.

The younger Winchester thought he had made some progress on the research. At least, he had managed to get the name and address of the guy Dean’s temporary love-interest had talked about. Only one house on main street had been sold in the past months, so that had to be their man.

The search for locust-related demons or monsters had been rather successful as well and Gabriel had agreed with Sam’s opinion on which one they were most likely to encounter. It had been painfully obvious that the archangel was withholding information, but he had insisted that they would discuss the case in the morning when the other two members of their little team would be back. Apparently, he hated having to repeat himself.

Sam wasn’t quite happy with that, but he could respect it, nevertheless. He had come to a point where he could sort of trust that Gabriel would have told him immediately. That is, if it had been important for him to have the knowledge. Dean would probably yell himself hoarse if Sam told him that, however. It seemed Ruby’s shadow would never quite leave him. Not to mention the other, darker things connected to her that he would never be able to get completely rid of.

“Sam,” Gabriel whined, “You’re doing it, _again_!”

Before the younger Winchester could form the words in order to reply, the archangel had already stuffed a couple of M&Ms directly into his mouth.

“You’ve got to stop doing that!” Sam insisted as strongly as he could around a mouthful of chocolate. Really, he had every right to brood every now and then! Besides, his problems couldn’t be solved with sweets, even if Dean kept insisting that pie could solve anything, or at least give you the feeling that everything could be solved.

“No, _you_ have got to stop doing that,” Gabriel shot back before he put his hands on Sam’s cheeks and forced the corners of the other man’s mouth upwards, “You’ve got such cute dimples, show them off! Not like being angsty will help you solve anything.”

Of course, the archangel was right about that, but it wasn’t like the younger Winchester was choosing to get lost in his dark thoughts most of the time.

He didn’t get to do or say anything before the very telltale sound of wings – that’s what Sam thought the sound was, anyway – announced Castiel’s arrival.

“What is a _lol_ and what does it have to do with Sam not appreciating you watching him sleep?” the angel asked in his very direct style. Apparently, he wasn’t even noticing the way Gabriel was still holding Sam’s face. Or, if he noticed, he didn’t think there was anything strange about it. Then again, Castiel knew nothing about personal space, so to him it might not seem unusual at all.

It was a little surprising to Sam that he didn’t mind Gabriel touching him all that much, at least as long as the touch remained as innocent as it was that very moment.

The younger Winchester finally leaned back and brought some more space between himself and the archangel, giving the other man a raised eyebrow.

Gabriel shrugged lightly, “What? It’s true! And I agree. Only stalkers, complete perverts and sparkly vampires watch people they don’t sleep with sleep.”

The ‘don’t sleep with, _yet_ ’ was heavily implied.

Once more, Sam said nothing to that. He found it easier to deal with the archangel’s strangeness when he didn’t give too many thoughts to whatever he said and he really didn’t want to discuss any sexual innuendo with Castiel around.

“So, Castiel and I will make ourselves rare and come back in the morning while you get some shut-eye,” the archangel stated after another moment, “And no arguing, either. You’ve been yawning constantly the past half hour.”

Of course, there was more behind Gabriel calling the other angel back early than the simple prospect of being bored once the human was asleep. He wasn’t going to put all his cards on the table yet, however.

Maybe it should have bothered Sam how easily he let the archangel boss him around, but since – once more – he was right about what he had said, the younger Winchester just nodded his consent. He would probably be a little annoyed with himself once he wasn’t quite that tired anymore, though.

 

* * *

 

 

“The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon,” Sam recited, “Revelations, of course.”

Dean stopped eating his breakfast for a moment looking back at his brother thoughtfully.

“The king over an army of locusts. Kind of pathetic but it would make sense,” he stated with a shrug. Apparently, the night he had spent at Sherry’s, had left Dean feeling rather relaxed and somewhat upbeat which was a nice change.

“Don’t take this too lightly. Abaddon is really bad news,” Gabriel threw in rather casually in total contrast to the content of his statement, though.

“No shit, Sherlock,” the older Winchester stated sarcastically, “The guy’s one letter from being ‘a bad one’.”

Technically, it was two letters. The added e and one removed d, but Sam had slept surprisingly well that night and didn’t feel like nitpicking at all. Instead he gave a half-smile.

“Yeah, well he’s a fallen angel, it doesn’t get much worse,” the younger Winchester said before he added apologetically, “No offense, Cas.”

Apparently, Castiel hadn’t been offended, anyway. At least he didn’t look in any way upset or insulted. The thought that they really didn’t know much about their angelic friend and his situation popped into Sam’s mind, but it wasn’t like Castiel was one for sharing and caring.

“Abaddon was one of the angels who followed Lucifer when he first turned against heaven and got thrown into hell for it,” Gabriel explained and then added rather sharply, “Castiel got cut off while still believing in our father and mostly following his rules. Completely different!”

It seemed the archangel minded the misconception far more than Castiel did.

“Yeah, of course! Cas is one of the good guys,” Dean felt the need to make sure that his angelic friend understood that he knew there was a difference, so he had to verbally agree with something Gabriel had said no matter how little he liked it.

Castiel just gave a curt nod, acknowledging that his brother and the older Winchester had just spoken up for him. He did appreciate that, but he hadn’t thought that the younger Winchester had been talking about him before, anyway.

A fallen angel being involved explained what he and Gabriel had been feeling when they had first arrived in the town, as well. It was quite likely that they wouldn’t have felt Abaddon’s presence at all, if the locusts hadn’t been all over the place, but as things were it wasn’t too hard to sense slight traces of his grace, or rather what used to be his grace. As warped as it was, it was close to impossible to recognize him, though.

“How do we kill him?” Sam asked to get back to the problem at hand. He stored the fact about there being different kinds of fallen angels away for later use, however. Really, there were a lot of things he intended to ask either Castiel or Gabriel about at a later point in time by then. Who was he kidding? Of course, he’d ask Gabriel. The archangel didn’t mind talking and giving lengthy explanations at all, while Castiel was rather tight-lipped usually.

“Oh, you’ve got a gun that kills everything – with very few, very specific exceptions – I’d start there,” Gabriel replied with a casual shrug.

Okay, he clearly was on their side and he was willing to prove it, but they had the means to deal with the situation themselves. Besides, he hadn’t said that he wouldn’t tag along and help them out if needed. In fact, Gabriel was planning to do exactly that, but getting one of his brothers’ blood on his hands was less than desirable. Good thing that the trigger happy older Winchester surely didn’t want him to just take the kill away from him, anyway.

“So, _you_ could be killed with the Colt?” Dean asked very frankly fixing the archangel with his eyes. Of course, the idea had been good and they would most likely do just what Gabriel had just suggested, but the older Winchester really didn’t feel the need to agree with him, yet again.

“Dean,” Sam chipped in before anyone could say anything else. The warning was quite clear in his tone. Gabriel was helping them, so threatening his life was uncalled for. Also, Gabriel was Sam’s friend, so threatening his life was even more uncalled for.

Yeah, he had just taken a stand in favor of the archangel which he would regret sooner or later. Either Dean would give him hell about it, or Gabriel would prove that he didn’t deserve Sam’s trust after all. Out of those two possibilities the younger Winchester knew which one he preferred with a hundred percent certainty.

Gabriel was very pleased with Sam’s behavior which showed in a certain smugness. The older Winchester, of course, was not amused. But neither of them saw any sense in fighting at this specific moment. They all knew that postponed was not abandoned, however.

“So, we start with the guy Sherry told you about yesterday?” the younger Winchester asked making a point of looking directly at his brother. Damn, if Dean wanted to make sure he still was the alpha-male around Sam would indulge him, for peace sake.

The older Winchester nodded tightly daring everyone else to say otherwise with a look. In fact, he was only daring Gabriel. Sam had made the suggestion, so he would barely disagree and Castiel surely was on Dean’s side. The archangel just nodded his consent as well, though. Dean wasn’t quite sure if he wasn’t a little disappointed that there wouldn’t be a reason to get into a fight with the annoying douchebag. Then again, knowing them he’d get a chance soon enough.

All in all, their situation didn’t look too bad. They had two angels on their side and only one fallen angel on the other. The Winchester brothers weren’t kidding themselves into believing that it would be quite as easy as it sounded since they were four against one, but at least the odds were clearly in their favor.

Of course, things would be much easier if Gabriel only had the balls to use his archangel powers and Dean would have brought that up, if he wasn’t kind of looking forward to shooting something. Shooting something with the Colt clearly was a bonus.

After all, they had gotten the gun back from the demon to use it. Granted, they would put it to a completely different use than they had originally thought, but Dean would settle for shooting any evil son of a bitch at this point.


	11. Chapter 11

** 11 **

 

The locusts seemed to have doubled their numbers over night. It was good that they finally had a plan they could set into motion, because it seemed like a very safe guess that whatever this was building up to would happen very soon.

Sam and Dean had both been bitten more than once since they had left the motel room and both of them would swear that the bites hurt more than they had the other day, as well.

Castiel was plucking the occasional locust from his trench coat, but wasn’t giving any indication of being bothered by them in any way. Either the animals only bit humans or the angel was stoic enough to ignore things like that completely. Both options seemed equally possible.

Gabriel wasn’t eager for the confrontation they were headed for, but there was really nothing but trailing slightly behind he could do. Of course, he could have just left them to it and return once things were dealt with, but that option didn’t sit quite right with him. He still hoped that he wouldn’t have to do much but stand by and watch, though.

Their very refined and clever attack-plan was pretty much the Winchesters’ standard one. Kick in the door and go in guns blazing, to sum it up.

The moment Sam forced the door open was also the moment when everything started to go wrong.

Gabriel managed to yell a quick curse and grab Castiel’s arm before both angels disappeared in a flash of light.

The reason for this wasn’t hard to find. In fact, it stood right in front of them. The man was still pushing his bloody palm against the wall with the angel banishing sigil on it. If that wasn’t a promising start to the operation, then Dean didn’t know what would have been. The part of his brain that always came up with the most inappropriate things at the most inappropriate time wasn’t losing a second to remind him that he could have banished Gabriel this entire time, as well. Then, of course, it just had to add that he could still do that next time.

“Abaddon, I assume,” the older Winchester spoke to the eerily silent man in front of them. He was still holding the Colt and if they were lucky the fallen angel wouldn’t know what it could do, but he still needed to wait for a moment when he could aim properly and somewhat surprise the man.

The vessel – assuming fallen angels needed vessels just like ordinary angels did, but then again, Lucifer did – looked as bland as they came. His picture could have been in a lexicon as an example for what blandness looked like.

“The vessels,” the fallen angel replied. Even his voice was completely bland. Really, Dean would be hard pressed to describe the guy in any way, if he wasn’t allowed to use the words bland and boring, anyway. Well, go figure, the guy was the king of the locusts, after all!

“Seems you’ve got a little bug infestation,” Dean commented dryly, “Good thing we’re into pest control.”

Mocking the bad guy was never a good idea, as was proven just a second later when a large swarm of locusts flew straight through one of the windows. Apparently, Abaddon was taking his bugs very seriously.

It was getting very hard to see anything in the room they were in within moments and with what seemed to be millions of the animals moving all around them it was also impossible to tell if they were in fact standing still or moving with them. To make it short, the entire situation was disorienting to the maximum.

“Dean!” Sam yelled. He had lost sight of his brother basically immediately and there wasn’t really much he could do other than try to find out where exactly the older Winchester was.

There also was no way to tell where Abaddon was and what he was doing, which didn’t help with the helpless feeling, either.

“Sam!” Dean yelled back, which let them both know that they were in fact rather close to each other. Actually, there was no way they would have been able to even hear the other if they hadn’t been close with all the noise the locusts were making.

Their backs hit the wall at the same time and only then the locusts retreated a little.

“Son of a bitch!” Dean pressed through gritted teeth as soon as he noticed that at some point he had lost his grip on the Colt without even noticing it had happened. Having bugs fly all around him and crawl all over him had put his body into enough of a sensatory overload to be unable to feel anything specific anymore.

Dean really wished that he had gotten a chance to take a shot at Abaddon before. In fact, he had figured that he’d just try and make their enemy mad enough to do anything that would end up distracting him from the older Winchester long enough for him to pull the trigger.

They were in dire need of a new plan!

“Lucifer will be very happy to see you,” the fallen angel addressed the younger Winchester with a small victorious smile, “I really don’t see how he hasn’t managed to get you himself yet, though.”

Sure, it wasn’t much of a surprise that the fallen angel was working with or for Lucifer, but Sam still felt like he had just been punched in the gut. Granted, he’d still have to give his consent before the devil could use him as a vessel, but there were a million things Lucifer could and would do to him, if he refused. The younger Winchester had every intention not to give in should Lucifer get his hands on him, but he knew that even Dean had broken after thirty years of torture, so who was he to say that he wouldn’t under any circumstances?

“Of course, my brother is convinced that you will come to him out of your own free will when the time is right,” Abaddon continued for the first time looking slightly curious as if he was trying to figure out what exactly Lucifer was seeing in the younger Winchester.

“That’ll never happen!” Sam stated with conviction pushing all the doubts he felt aside so they wouldn’t show and give the fallen angel anything to work with.

“It hardly matters now, does it?” the other man replied in a perfectly neutral tone before he focused his attention on the older Winchester, “The question is; what am I going to do with you?”

Dean simply snorted and looked back at the fallen angel defiantly. Like that was really a question! The only real question was how they were going to prevent him from killing Dean and taking Sam to Lucifer, or failing to achieve that how fast Castiel – and probably Gabriel – would find a way to resurrect Dean. Dying and resting in peace were off the menu that much was clear to the older Winchester.

“You know, this is a curious weapon,” Abaddon mused looking at the Colt before he aimed it at Dean, “It doesn’t only send demons back to hell. Did you never wonder why?”

To be quite honest, Dean had never thought about that. It had been enough for him that it was working. And to continue with the honesty, he didn’t give a damn about that sort of fact while the weapon was aimed at him, anyway.

“It doesn’t only destroy the body, but the very essence of the demon,” the fallen angel explained with faked patience, “Demonic essence, the human soul, there isn’t as much of a difference as you surely like to think there is. Let’s find out if it’s big enough!”

Sam wouldn’t be able to say why and how he was able to move, but he wasn’t questioning these things as he just threw himself against the fallen angel, anyway. His thinking process was pretty much limited to the one fact that he needed to throw Abaddon’s aim off enough to make sure he would miss Dean completely.

The struggle didn’t last long and barely deserved to be called one as one-sided as it was, but when the Colt went off the bullet only hit the wall. A couple of feet away the younger Winchester hit the floor. All in all, he was still as pleased with the outcome as he could be in his slightly dazed condition.

The fallen angel apparently lost his focus on the situation completely allowing Dean to make his own move. He wasn’t any more successful than his brother, however.

The Winchester brothers were both lying on the floor unable to do anything but watch as Abaddon raised the gun again.

“No!” Sam yelled, because at this point there was nothing else he could do and he couldn’t have prevented himself from shouting even if he had wanted to.

The surprised and slightly shocked expression on Abaddon’s face didn’t make sense at first, but when the fallen angel dropped to his knees what had happened became apparent.

Gabriel was looking at the angel blade sticking out of his fallen brother’s back with a strange mixture of disdain and distress written all over his face.

There was no big light show as the life drained out of Abaddon, due to the state his grace was in, but other than the humans the archangel could still very clearly see it burst out of the body and then vanish.

After a moment, Gabriel took his blade back and let it disappear.

“Where’s Cas?” Dean asked once both he and his brother had managed to get to their feet again. The last time they had seen the angel he had been with the archangel and it seemed like a safe guess that Castiel wouldn’t stay away from the fight and only send his brother back instead.

“Still reassembling himself, I’d think,” Gabriel answered with a strange expression, “I tried to get us both away from the banishing sigil, but we didn’t make it far enough and were somewhat affected by it.”

The other angel was weaker than the archangel was in general and especially since he had been cut off from heaven, so of course Castiel would take longer to recover - too long to be of any use to the Winchesters as things had been. Otherwise, Gabriel wasn’t quite sure if he wouldn’t have stood by and waited for the other angel to handle the situation. Who was he kidding, though? Not many rational thoughts had been involved after he had heard the younger Winchester’s distressed yell.

“He’s okay, though?” Sam asked somewhat worried by the archangel’s behavior.

“Sure. As okay as he was before, anyway,” Gabriel replied looking back at Sam for a moment, “If you’ll excuse me. We’ll see each other at the next big disaster. Knowing you, that’ll be soon enough.”

Before Sam could tell him to stay, the archangel was gone and left two rather confused humans behind.

“What’s his problem?” Dean asked shaking his head as he grabbed the Colt from the dead angel. The thought that maybe Bobby should keep the gun until they absolutely needed it again crossed his mind. After all, he couldn’t be completely sure that neither Sam nor he himself would get very stupid ideas now that they knew that in theory they should be beyond being brought back to life, if they were shot with the Colt. He dismissed the thought as quickly as it had occurred to him, however.

“He just killed one of his brothers,” Sam guessed. His voice was rather uncertain, however. Out of the two Winchesters he probably knew Gabriel better, but he would be exaggerating to the extreme, if he claimed that he understood the archangel.

Leaving the house they first noticed that most of the locusts around were dead or close to dying. The younger Winchester guessed that they could say this had been a job well done, even if – technically – they hadn’t finished it themselves. Well, Gabriel was a member of the team now, so it absolutely counted as a complete win for them.

“A total douchebag of a brother,” Dean insisted giving one last look to the house they had just left before he got behind the wheel of his baby.

“Wouldn’t make me feel better about having to kill you,” Sam deadpanned.

He’d give Gabriel some time to pull himself together, but he intended to get into contact with the archangel soon. The wrong message that might send be damned!

“Shut up, bitch! You know you love me,” the older Winchester shot back as he drove them back towards their motel.


	12. Chapter 12

** 12 **

 

Another one of Sam’s calls went straight to Gabriel’s voicemail. Really, the younger Winchester didn’t even know why he was still trying to reach the archangel. No, scratch that, he knew exactly why he had been calling the other man around ten times already and he also knew why he would try again in a couple of minutes. In the past few days Gabriel had done a few rather nice things for Sam when he had felt the younger man needed to be cheered up. Granted, some of those things hadn’t been appreciated at first, but in the end the younger Winchester acknowledged that, in his very own and rather strange way, the archangel had shown that he cared about his wellbeing. Sam felt that it was time to repay the favor.

They had been back at the motel for about an hour before Castiel had appeared, as per usual, directly in front of Dean. Even though the older Winchester was still somewhat freaked out by that kind of behavior, it had been easy enough to see that he was glad to confirm with his own two eyes that his angelic friend was okay. He hadn’t been willing to take Gabriel’s word for it, not that anyone had honestly expected him to.

Castiel seemed to be physically fine but in need of some rest. They didn’t really have to leave in a hurry anyway, so it had been decided that they would spend one more night in town.

“Stop stalking the douchebag already!” Dean demanded from his place on the shabby couch. Dr. Sexy was on and because Castiel had never seen the show and had looked mildly interested Dean was given enough of an excuse to just leave it on. Only to let the angel have an authentic cultural experience, of course!

Sam ignored his brother and opened his laptop instead. It was highly unlikely that his newest idea would lead anywhere, but he didn’t know for sure until he tried it.

“I was under the impression that doctors were meant to _work_ in hospitals,” Castiel stated in a confused tone, looking over to Dean as if he honestly expected an explanation. He probably really did, too.

“Yeah, and angels are meant to wear white tunics and play the harp,” the older Winchester replied, “Look, it’s like books, plays, whatever - based on true stuff, not actually true.”

Castiel nodded slowly. Still, why let these people portrait doctors when they weren’t acting like doctors? It was most perplexing, but the actions on the little TV screen captured his attention again and all the things that seemed illogical took a backseat in his mind.

At the other side of the room, Sam closed his laptop again and grabbed his jacket. He was a little surprised that Dean even realized what he was about to do since his show still wasn’t over.

“You’re _not_ going to actually search for the jerk now!” Dean said insistently even looking over to his younger brother to make sure he understood that he was serious about this.

“The jerk’s name is Gabriel and he saved our asses only a couple of hours ago,” Sam argued knowing that this would come back to bite him in the ass – or worse – later, “And I’ll make this my night out. You had yours yesterday.”

The little rant earned him a curiously raised eyebrow from Castiel, of all people. The younger Winchester thought he saw some approval in the angel’s expression, but it was damn hard to tell.

“Whatever, dude, but you’re wasting the time you could be using in a much better way,” the older Winchester shrugged. He was caving in here, but there was no need to make that all too clear.

“Have fun with your medical drama,” Sam shot back making sure to stress the drama-part. With that, the younger Winchester quickly left the motel, not giving his brother a chance to really start a discussion.

 

* * *

 

 

It was surprisingly hard to find Gabriel, even though Sam had entered the right bar.

The younger Winchester had assumed that the archangel would be right at the heart of the party, so to say. Instead, he was sitting at a small table in a corner all by himself.

“The GPS on your phone was turned on, so I assumed you wouldn’t mind being found,” Sam explained with a small smile as he sat next to the angel.

“You didn’t have to follow me, I’d have come back,” Gabriel stated, though it sounded a little like he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince the other man. Of course, he had had every intention of returning to team free will, but if he was being completely honest, he didn’t know how soon he would have gone back to them, or how soon the intention to go back soon would have become the intention to probably go back some day.

“Yeah, I know,” Sam replied, “But I thought you might like the company.”

“Sasquatch, people running away usually want to be _alone_ ,” the archangel shot back without heat but slightly slurring his words. Maybe he had thought that he wanted to be alone earlier, but the moment he had noticed the other man walking up to him he had felt nothing but glad to see him.

“Are you drunk?” the younger Winchester asked with a curiously raised eyebrow, “I didn’t know angels could get drunk.”

“It takes a lot of determination and hard work,” Gabriel answered with a somewhat forced grin, “So I don’t do it often.”

In the end the couple of hours of feeling drunk weren’t worth all the work and the hangover afterward. This didn’t mean he didn’t drink, but he didn’t make it his goal to actually get hammered, usually. Also, Gabriel was leaning towards depression when he had had too much. Didn’t it simply figure that a guy who did about everything to avoid having to be serious was a depressed drunk?

Sam cleared his throat a little awkwardly before he asked, “Do you have any candy on you?”

Gabriel frowned but didn’t hesitate and handed a bag of M&Ms over. The younger Winchester opened the plastic wrapping and pushed the bag back toward the archangel.

“Looked like you were _brooding hard enough to hatch an ostrich_. But don’t expect me to stuff them into your mouth now,” Sam commented with a half-smile.

The action and comment earned him a real smile from Gabriel, which was probably the best thing he had seen all day. Yeah, he’d never say that out loud, but the archangel just looked a lot better – for a lack of a more fitting word – when he was smiling. It just seemed more like him and Sam found that lately he liked his usual self just fine.

“Why did you come after me?” Gabriel asked grabbing a handful of the candy.

The younger Winchester snorted before he replied in a somewhat amused tone, “Did we reverse our roles?”

“Meh, who’s ever playing their roles anymore? It’s totally overrated anyway, if you ask me” the archangel shrugged dismissively, “So?”

And, yes, he was insisting on getting an answer. The younger Winchester didn’t let him off the hook this easily when he was asking questions, either.

“You seemed upset and then you just up and left. You’re my friend, Gabriel. Of course I came after you,” Sam explained, “Maybe I’m completely wrong, but most of the time, when I ran away, a part of me would have wanted someone to stop me.”

Which didn’t mean that he blamed Dean or their father for not doing it. Really, he had known both of them long enough to know that they didn’t tick that way, but a part of him had always hoped that someone would just tell him to stop, come back and talk things over.

Yeah, he was a member of the completely wrong family, if he wanted things like that.

The archangel looked like he was getting watery eyes at that, which was the last thing Sam had wanted.

“Oh come on, don’t,” Sam mumbled as he put his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder to pat it lightly. He was relieved when the archangel reached into the candy bag again and it seemed like he had gotten a hold on himself. The younger Winchester was surprised that he hadn’t even noticed that at this point the archangel was basically snuggling into his side, however. There wasn’t much use trying to change anything about the situation and Sam wasn’t really bothered by it to begin with. He was slightly bothered by the fact that he didn’t mind the contact, though.

“You and Abaddon were close?” Sam asked to get his own thoughts away from the solid warm weight of the archangel currently pressed against his side.

Gabriel snorted. “We were all close at some point, but that was eons ago,” he replied and then added with a sigh, “I left home so I’d never have to fight one of my siblings again. Y’know for a place where people are meant to _rest in peace_ there was a lot of fighting going on all the time. Ever since Lucifer started to rebel, anyway.”

Sam had been under the impression that a lot of things generally believed about heaven and angels weren’t true for a while, so this wasn’t all that surprising to him. It was understandable that those memories and facts were hurtful for Gabriel, though. For a moment, he wondered how Castiel had felt about the situation in heaven before he had rebelled for them, but there weren’t enough indications in his behavior even for a guess.

“You must have felt lonely,” Sam stated in a soft tone, “Alone and away from home like that.”

“Nah”, Gabriel replied, sitting a little straighter but not moving away from the Winchester, “I have friends. Okay, I couldn’t turn my back to them without being in danger of being stabbed, but they’re my friends anyway. And there’s the part where I can just, you know, create some company if I want to.”

Under different circumstances, Sam might have asked for the archangel’s definition of a friend. It didn’t include having to watch your back around them in Sam’s book. But as things were, he just didn’t want to risk bringing Gabriel down.

“It isn’t quite the same though, is it?” he couldn’t help questioning the last part of what the archangel had said.

“Sammy, if it were the same, I’d be at home with my very own copy of you finding new and imaginative uses for chocolate sauce this very moment,” Gabriel replied without batting an eye, but finally giving the younger Winchester some personal space back. He supposed that sexual innuendo and body contact together might still be a little too much for the other man.

Sam blinked a couple of times and cleared his throat pointedly before demanding, “Tell me you’ve never done that before!”

Because everything else would freak the younger Winchester out quite badly, to be honest. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that the archangel Gabriel had a crush on him and that there was a very small chance that Sam might feel something in return, though it was impossible to say what the exact nature of those feelings was this far. It’d probably take a lot more time to figure that one out completely. But he knew for certain that he didn’t like the idea of Gabriel creating a copy of Sam for his own amusement, especially not if that included any _new and imaginative uses for chocolate sauce_.

“What? No, no, of course not!” the archangel answered very quickly. Too quickly, Sam thought.

“Oh God, you did!” the younger Winchester moaned, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes to fight off the oncoming migraine and the unwanted pictures.

“No, I didn’t,” Gabriel insisted shaking his head and clicking his tongue for emphasis.

“Okay,” Sam exhaled, relieved. Logically, he knew that he shouldn’t just take the other man’s word for it, but he just wanted to too badly.

“I really didn’t,” the archangel had to ruin the moment for the younger Winchester. He hadn’t changed his completely innocent tone, but he had added a cheeky grin for good measure.

“You’re a pain in the ass!” Sam grumbled.

“I resent that! I am usually very gentle unless requested otherwise,” Gabriel replied waggling his eyebrows. He knew he was pushing it, but the younger Winchester was giving him all the right – or wrong – keywords here. Besides, he was still slightly under the influence, even though he had never reached his goal of getting drunk in the first place.

For some reason that wasn’t even completely clear to Sam himself, the human just had to laugh about that. Maybe he was just really relieved to see those stupid waggling eyebrows instead of a serious and melancholic expression on the archangel’s face, or maybe he had realized that he couldn’t win this one so he’d better just roll with it, but whatever it was the evening took a turn for the better after this first wave of laughter.


	13. Chapter 13

** 13 **

 

Saying that Dean hadn’t been too happy about his brother staying out late with the archangel was like saying that winters in the arctic tundra might get slightly uncomfortable. Yes, the older Winchester was very worried about recent developments and it showed in him being pissed off, his favorite way of expressing concern.

It didn’t help that the music coming out of the Impala’s radio was – once more – not of his choosing. This time, it was rather obvious that a certain someone was messing with them, as well. Every station was playing the exactly same songs and the radio wouldn’t let itself be turned off.

Of course, Dean’s mood wasn’t lost on his younger brother who tried to inconspicuously type a message into his phone.

‘Stop it already!’ he wrote as quickly as possible and sent the message to Gabriel. The archangel had a really bad timing with his little pranks sometimes, especially if he was still trying to do something nice for Sam with the music. Yeah, that wasn’t working when Dean was as close to exploding as he was because of it.

‘Next song is my favorite, will stop afterwards.’ Gabriel replied within the minute adding a winking smiley face at the end which made Sam equally curious and worried. Knowing the archangel the song could be just about everything from cutesy to extremely explicit.

The song that came one was far from the worst the younger Winchester could have imagined, but he still felt his ears turn hot and undoubtedly red in color. It was clearly a love song, after all.

To Sam’s great surprise, Dean turned to volume up at the second chorus.

“Won't you send down an angel from the blue to show me the righteous thing to do? Oh, I'm calling out to you, send down an angel to get me through,” Allison Moorer sang before the older Winchester cut the radio off completely which - surprisingly enough - worked this time.

“Anything you want to tell me?” he asked his younger brother in an annoyed tone that Sam really thought he didn’t deserve. It wasn’t like he had asked Gabriel to do this and it was embarrassing to him as least as much as it was annoying to Dean.

“Gabriel said he’d stop -,” the younger Winchester began before his brother cut him off by hitting the steering wheel with his palms violently.

“This is Ruby all over again!” Dean was very close to yelling already and they hadn’t even started with the talk, yet. He had had quite some time to build up frustration, so this was long overdue, though.

“Oh, come on!” Sam replied trying to keep his defensiveness at bay, for now. Getting too defensive was the first step on the way to getting angry and it was enough when one of them was being irritated.

“So, you haven’t been seeing the jerk and never mentioned it afterward? He hasn’t been trying to make you trust him? He hasn’t been offering help with finding a solution to our problem, but hasn’t given us anything concrete?” Dean spat looking at his brother at least as much as he was looking at the road during his speech, “And, of course, he’s not sending songs about angels showing you the right thing to do your way!”

Sam couldn’t help being glad that his older brother had chosen to ignore that it had been a love song, at least for now. So, Dean probably didn’t go as far as to think that the younger Winchester and the archangel were romantically involved, which – again – Sam was grateful for.

“Gabriel is my friend, okay? And he wants to help us. There’s nothing else!” the younger Winchester replied trying and failing to stay completely calm and collected. As things were, he had spoken the truth and he didn’t see a reason why he should tell Dean about the archangel’s crush, or that he might just start to return it a little bit. Hell, Sam wasn’t even sure about the last part himself, so there was absolutely nothing to tell.

“After everything he has done to us. To you! You said it yourself; he’s been picking on you more than on me! How did you go from that to friendship?” Dean damn near shouted again. At least the bitch whose very name gave the older Winchester heartburn still had started out with helping them!

“He said, things changed since then and I believe him, Dean,” Sam replied louder than he had intended to but not yet shouting himself, though he was very close to it.

“And that’s different to Ruby how?” the older Winchester shot back with a hard expression on his face and shaking his head disappointedly, “Goddammit Sam, things just never change with you!”

“That’s what Lucifer said,” Sam pressed through his teeth and turned slightly sideway to stare out of the window determined to ignore whatever else his older brother might be throwing his way for the rest of the drive.

 

* * *

 

 

“I’ll look through these,” Sam stated, grabbing a couple of books and papers that Bobby had prepared for them and went downstairs to the panic room to be alone while reading. He really didn’t want to be in the same room as his brother after just having spent an hour long drive in rather uncomfortable silence.

“What’s bitten him?” Bobby asked with a deep frown looking after the younger Winchester. It hadn’t been hard to tell that something was wrong between the brothers from the very second they had walked through the door and while Bobby really wasn’t dying to listen to the story, he still felt it would be preferable to having one or both of the boys doing something very stupid.

“We’ve had an argument,” Dean replied unwillingly, but there wasn’t much sense trying to hide anything from Bobby.

“You don’t say!” the older hunter remarked sarcastically before he added a very heartfelt, “Idjits.”

The older Winchester figured that maybe this was his chance to get somebody on his side in the entire Gabriel-debacle. Castiel and Sam seemed to like the idea of having the archangel on their side way too much to consider the very real possibility that things could go very badly for them if they trusted the little douchebag too much.

“Next thing I know, Sam’s talking about the jerk being his friend!” he finished telling the older hunter the gist of what had been going on since they had been at his place the last time. Dean had been pacing around the room while he had been talking and only stopped to see Bobby’s reaction, which wasn’t quite what he had expected or hoped for.

“If you’re on the douchebag’s side now only because he healed you -,” the older Winchester started to talk himself into a rage again, but this time Bobby stopped him.

“Don’t you dare take that tone with me, boy!” the older hunter said in a reprimanding tone that never failed to make Dean feel like he was at most ten years old again.

In fact, Bobby could keep the gratefulness he felt for being able to walk around again separated from anything else he thought about the archangel. There was no denying that Gabriel had helped them out in some ways, but there had been a time when they would have had to say the same about a certain demonic skank.

“I understand that you are worried, Dean,” Bobby added complacently after a moment, “Hell, I’m worried, too. But your angel and your brother think that we should put some trust into Gabriel.”

The older hunter raised his hand to stop the objection the younger man had been about to make. “I am not saying you should let your guards down and I’m not saying you should even try to trust the pigeon,” he clarified, “But you should try to trust your family some.”

And that included Castiel, to some extent. Hell, the way Dean was acting the angel was basically a brother to him, anyway.

“If he shows any signs of wanting to double-cross us, we can still stake him,” Bobby spoke again after a short moment of consideration.

“Won’t kill him,” Dean grumbled rather dissatisfied with the way the talk had gone. He had really hoped that Bobby would take a much clearer stand against Gabriel’s involvement in anything. He had hoped their father figure would share his anger about Sammy putting his trust into another supernatural creature – and no, his trust in Castiel wasn’t exactly the same thing – as he was sure John Winchester would have done.

“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure it’ll hurt like a bitch,” the older hunter replied with a short smirk and that was finally something the older Winchester really liked to hear.

 

* * *

 

 

In the panic room, Sam hadn’t managed to concentrate on reading for long. Hell, he hadn’t managed to concentrate at all, but he had managed to wait a couple of minutes before he had sent his current location to Gabriel via text message.

“What do you want with me?” Sam asked the archangel before he had even completely arrived in the room. He really needed an answer to that question, however. Actually, he had needed that answer for some time.

“Uh, _you_ called _me_ , big bird,” Gabriel replied with a frown but still slightly amused.

“You know what I mean,” Sam shot back ignoring the new stupid nickname he had acquired.

“How explicit should I be with my answer?” the archangel asked waggling his eyebrows in a try to take some seriousness out of the situation.

“As explicit as you want to be,” the younger Winchester answered fixing the archangel’s golden brown eyes with his own, “Just be honest.”

There was no use denying that the archangel was invading his personal space at this point and saying that it completely freaked Sam out would have been a fucking lie. It still freaked him out a little that it didn’t freak him out, however. Yeah, he’d have to stop being bothered about not being bothered.

“I want you.” Gabriel replied, stressing every single word as he stood so close to the younger Winchester that they were nearly touching, “And I want _you_ to want _me_.”

The latter part was what he knew he would still have to put a lot of work into. He was pretty sure that he was having some sort of effect on Sam already, it wasn’t quite strong enough to erase what the younger Winchester thought was his sexual identity, though. As stubborn as humans – especially Winchesters – could be, he would be lucky, if he got anywhere before his blue balls would kill him, metaphorically spoken.

“So, how does this go? I sleep with you and you leave and never come back?” Sam asked in a much more neutral tone than would have been expected from the content of his question.

“You’d sleep with me just to make me go away?” the archangel inquired, clearly not pleased with the prospect of a positive answer.

“No!” the younger Winchester replied immediately and with vigor. Maybe he would have considered the possibility for a moment, but in the end he was sure that he wouldn’t have. Especially not to get rid of Gabriel.

“But you want me to go away,” the archangel stated like he was talking about facts. Really, if the younger man had wanted to get rid of him he should have said so before they had had all that bonding time. Especially before Sam had shown up at that bar to cheer Gabriel up the other night! Damn it, this wasn’t only about getting into Sam’s pants anymore, which – admittedly – it had been about at first. But that had changed very quickly and Gabriel had to admit that he was somewhat committed to the cause as things were, as well.

“No,” the younger Winchester sighed finally bringing some distance between them. He let himself drop onto the chair he had vacated when the archangel had first arrived burying his face in his hands.

Gabriel, of course, went after him nearly without delay. “That’s something we can work with,” he stated in a soft tone ruffling Sam’s hair.

The younger Winchester looked up to the archangel – which was a very unusual angle – and smiled slightly. He really didn’t know how the other man was doing it, but most of the time he could make Sam smile rather easily.

“Y’know, this is the point where I’d usually kiss you,” Gabriel stated in a gentle yet amused tone not moving in any way, however.

“I’d prefer it, if you didn’t,” the younger Winchester replied nearly apologetically, but this very moment he really didn’t feel like being kissed. Yes, Sam had finally reached the point that freaked him out.

“Only now or ever?” Gabriel asked cautiously. There was a very big and important difference between those two options, after all. He was confident enough that he knew which one it was already, though.

“I’m not saying ‘never’,” Sam replied, even though he felt like he was going to die from embarrassment only for admitting that, “I’m not saying I’ll change my mind soon either, however.”

The archangel apparently could live with that answer. He seemed quite happy about it, in fact. Sam was definitely wondering if he wasn’t completely in over his head at this point.

“We can definitely work with that,” Gabriel stated in an upbeat tone, “And talking about work, we should go find the rest of the team, I’ve got a plan!”


	14. Chapter 14

** 14 **

 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Dean commented icily after Gabriel had explained his so called plan to them all.

It came down to two things, really. The first was getting the four rings of the four horsemen, so they could open Lucifer’s cage again, which was the part Dean agreed with. After all, they had already decided to go for that when they had first found out that Lucifer was raising Death. The second, however, was teaming up with a bunch of creatures they would usually most likely kill on first sight – if they didn’t get to them first – and that was something the older Winchester was absolutely unwilling to do.

Once again, the others looked like they were considering listening to the archangel’s stupid idea and that pissed Dean off. Alright, Castiel basically always looked like he was contemplating about everything, so it was okay for him to do it. Bobby and Sam had no such excuse, however.

The older Winchester took a few deep breaths trying to remind himself of what Bobby had said earlier. They were his family and he had to trust them. He didn’t have to trust the annoying little douchebag, but he could and should trust the people he considered family. At the very least, he shouldn’t dismiss something all three of them wanted to give a try.

“Lucifer surely wouldn’t expect us to form an alliance with the pagan gods,” Castiel said carefully considering his words. Like most angels, he didn’t have a high opinion of all the pagan gods that were still around, but at the very least they were a power to be reckoned with and thus might be helpful.

“What’d keep them from killing every single one of us, especially those two, at first sight?” Bobby asked indicating the Winchester brothers with a slight nod of his head. After all, they might easily get the idea that it would be better if the chosen vessels weren’t around anymore and that was a chance the older hunter didn’t like to take.

Gabriel didn’t bother with giving a verbal reply and only pointed at himself with both his thumbs. He’d be damned if he let anyone touch the younger Winchester and yes, he’d make sure his older brother was okay, if only because it’d break Sammy’s heart should anything happen to him.

“If you’re so sure that you can take on an assembly of gods, why don’t you just go and get rid of Lucifer?” Dean asked, actually interested in the answer and not only trying to get a rise out of the archangel. Hell, he’d been wondering why Gabriel didn’t just fight the devil for a while, but the time had never been right for asking.

“I’ve never contemplated suicide and I’m not starting now,” the archangel replied easily, trying to distract from the topic with giving a very clear answer that wasn’t clear at all.

“You’re an archangel, he was one, so why not?” the older Winchster didn’t let the topic go and when Sam shot an interested look into his direction Gabriel knew he wasn’t getting out of this one.

“Castiel is an angel as well. Would you ask him to search for a direct confrontation with Zachariah?” he answered, “Oh, who am I talking to? Of course, you would.”

Maybe, they weren’t even really to blame for that, though. After all, it was quite apparent that they didn’t know much about angelic power-levels and what being cut off from heaven really meant.

“Gabriel, look, you can’t just throw stuff like that on us and then not explain what you’re talking about,” Sam argued reasonably. Granted, the archangel was much more inclined to do anything the younger Winchester was asking from him, but the way in which he was being asked made an important difference, as well.

“You’d better take a seat, this is going to take a while,” Gabriel started. He didn’t wait for any of them to get comfortable, though.

“Heaven and hell are both powered by two things mostly. The souls that are actually there and the belief of all living souls,” he explained and made a lollipop appear to have something to hold on to mainly, “Obviously, the stronger the person’s belief the more power both heaven and hell can draw from it. But it starts with something really simple. The mere knowledge of the concept already gives off some power, very little, but still.”

Which was why nearly unknown beings were still around, although they often had to search for new – and usually drastic – ways to up their power. Sacrifice – of the involuntary kind – came to mind.

“Anyway, they back their soldiers, especially those in active duty, up with all the excessive power they don’t need to simply keep things running,” he went on talking and was a little surprised to be interrupted by his brother.

“Unless, of course, one of the soldiers becomes a deserter,” Castiel said in a rather neutral tone, as if he was only speaking about the weather and not facts that concerned him greatly.

“Bottom line being, they cut you off as well,” Bobby put two and two together addressing the archangel. Well, that explained some things, but it brought some other questions up at the same time.

“How the hell have you been running around doing your Trickster number then?” Dean asked one of the things the older hunter had been wondering about, as well.

Castiel hadn’t been cut off for that long and he was clearly losing a lot of his mojo and with that of his abilities, already. It wasn’t like Cas had used his powers more excessively than his brother, though.

“Because I’m awesome like that,” Gabriel replied with one of his trademark smirks, “Also, they didn’t get a chance to take the very thing that makes me an archangel away. Besides, I’ve got a lot of fans, so to speak. And there are a couple of other things, as well.”

He wasn’t quite sure into how much detail he wanted to go with his story. Then again, he would have to reveal most of it rather soon, anyway.

“People believing in you specifically gives you power,” Sam stated more than he asked. Really, if it worked with concepts like heaven and hell, why not with single beings? It also made sense that Castiel didn’t have that advantage. The younger Winchester had never heard of an angel of that name before he had shown up and he really didn’t think he was overly popular in general.

“Someone give the man a cookie!” Gabriel replied but then just snapped his fingers to give Sam the cookie himself. He didn’t miss the short amused smile that gesture got from the younger Winchester and that was really good to see.

“What other things?” Dean asked suspiciously. If they were having story-time then he wanted to hear the entire story.

“The human soul is a great power-source in itself,” Castiel gave an answer to everyone’s surprise, “Jimmy did not get resurrected alongside me, however.”

The angel wasn’t quite sure what had become of the poor man’s soul, but he hadn’t exactly been in the shape to wonder about things when Raphael had made him explode. He hoped that Jimmy Novak’s soul had found its way to heaven, but he couldn’t tell for sure. Maybe, some day he would be able to return to heaven and look for it.

There was a moment of silence before the full meaning of Castiel’s words sunk in and all the humans present were looking at the archangel speculatively.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Gabriel told them with a click of his tongue, “It’s not like he’s been aware of anything that’s been going on since I’ve taken over.”

Besides, it wasn’t like he could have done much about it. Okay, there might have been a way to get the man’s soul out of his body once Gabriel’s grace had been securely inside, but at the time he hadn’t had the time and the nerves to go through with it. As time had passed he just had dismissed doing anything alike at all, because the arrangement was working perfectly as it was. Never change a winning team and all that.

“Is there anything else?” Bobby asked, clearly demanding an honest answer. He was prepared to give the archangel and his ideas a fair chance, but only if he was being completely truthful with them.

“Uh, you know how you’ve been calling me ‘Trickster’ over the years?” Gabriel asked with a casual shrug, “I’d have listened to Loki, as well.”

Castiel’s frown was the deepest, but at the same time he looked like some things were falling into place. To the angel, they probably did as well. After all, the new identity he had built for himself was the main reason why Gabriel could disguise his angelic presence as well as he could.

“Loki,” Sam repeated after the archangel, “As in, the Norse god, Loki.”

And somehow the younger Winchester didn’t find that quite as hard to believe as he thought he should have. Yeah, a lot of things concerning Gabriel weren’t quite as Sam thought they should have been.

The archangel only shrugged and didn’t elaborate. He hadn’t actively planned to impersonate a god when he had left heaven and come to Earth, but the possibility had presented itself and it had seemed like a very good disguise.

Bobby was mentally going through all the lore on the character he could come up with and he had to admit that it fit what they had seen of Gabriel’s powers over the years.

“So, you’ve been drawing power from people believing in Loki and the entire Norse pantheon, as well,” the older hunter reasoned. All in all, it sounded like a quite impressive power-source the archangel had at his disposal.

“It’s not quite what it used to be, but yes,” Gabriel agreed with a nod. All in all, his power level was comfortably high, but it still wasn’t quite good enough to compete with Michael or Lucifer. If he had to guess, he’d say that he might have a realistic chance against Raphael, but that was talking about their powers without taking their general fighting skills into account. Yeah, maybe Gabriel had skipped a few too many training lessons, but he just didn’t like direct confrontations. He was more of a fan of elaborate illusions and trickery.

“And you have been using those pagan powers to mask your grace completely,” Castiel added in a tone that made quite clear that he didn’t approve of that aspect of the story.

“It’s become a lot easier ever after I could do that,” Gabriel replied ignoring the disapproving stare the other angel sent his way. Really, what was Castiel expecting? It wasn’t like he could have run around with a big neon arrow over his head saying ‘archangel, please return to heaven’. Being found and forced to return had been what he had been most afraid of, not other beings trying to harm or kill him. He was quite sure he could have dealt with that, with heavenly prison and reeducation not so much.

“And that’s it. Nothing more. Unless, you want to hear about all the skeletons in my closet, but we’ll be here until next year then,” he finished with a light shrug. After all, he was old and he had been on Earth for a very long time and he hadn’t exactly been an innocent little lamb even before. Besides, they all knew him well enough not to be surprised by that.

“Okay, and heaven kicked Lucifer out, but he has hell backing him up,” Dean deducted from everything they had heard this far, “Like heaven’s backing Michael up. Plus their individual worshippers and believers.”

“’Congrats, Dean-o, that was more insight than I’d have expected coming from you,” Gabriel agreed in a somewhat mocking tone, “You see why we need any help we can get now?”

Begrudgingly, Dean had to admit that he did see the archangel’s point. That didn’t mean that he liked the idea of teaming up with any of Gabriel’s so called friends, however.

“So, what do we do now?” Sam asked to get back to the topic they had started at. It wasn’t like they could just put an ad into the papers saying they were searching for pagan gods to help them battle the devil.

“Oh, I already made contact to some of the pagans. I’ll tell you once something comes from that,” the archangel replied, ignoring Dean’s completely not amused expression at hearing that things had been set into motion without informing them first.

“But there’s a couple of other things I’d like to try,” he added after a moment, “So, grab your stuff and follow me, we’ve got some summoning to do!”

This time, Sam didn’t like the sound of that, either.


	15. Chapter 15

** 15 **

 

The symbols Gabriel had drawn were most likely Enochian, but the archangel hadn’t explained them to the humans. In fact, he had only said that memorizing them would be useless since they were meant to send an invitation to one specific person and wouldn’t do anything else.

It did nothing to put the older Winchester at ease that Castiel looked doubtful at best and worried at worst. Of course, the angel wouldn’t say anything or even explain why he was looking like this might be a very bad idea, though.

“Cas, if you know of any reason why this is a bad idea, speak now!” Dean demanded none too friendly, but it was hard to keep his cool when he knew that something was going on but nobody would tell him what it was. That was a feeling that the older Winchester had always hated and ever since Gabriel had joined them it seemed like there was always something going on behind his back.

“I was merely wondering what Gabriel hopes to gain by summoning one of our siblings,” Castiel replied a little puzzled. He did not think that it was a bad or dangerous idea per se, but he didn’t think it would help them any, either.

And that right there was why Dean hated not knowing what was going on! Okay, he wasn’t all too surprised that they were apparently summoning an angel, but that didn’t mean he liked having his suspicions confirmed any. He was about to voice his thoughts on the topic when a woman appeared next to Gabriel.

“Gabriel, I am surprised,” she spoke in a rather soft voice that fit her general appearance. Under different circumstances, Dean might have thought of her as sort of attractive, with the short black hair and the pouty lips and curvy figure, but knowing that she really was just a meat-suit for an angel took away from that.

“Not quite as surprised as I am,” Gabriel replied with an amused grin, “The last time I saw you, you were a lot _manlier_.”

In fact, the last time they had seen each other she had been a man.

“Is that one of those sentiments one is expected to return?” she asked without batting an eye but with the slightest hint of humor in her voice.

“Ouch,” the archangel commented in a wounded tone, “I expect you to make amends for that insult.”

Maybe it wasn’t the best transition he could have come up with, but the older Winchester was apparently getting very impatient, so they’d better get this show on the road.

“What do you want?” the woman asked without further ado. It wasn’t like she had believed this was only about a nice little chat.

“Alright, Caliel, this is team free will,” Gabriel indicated the other men present, “Team suicidal idiots came a close second in the naming process.”

The other angel nodded her understanding and didn’t look any more amused than all the others did. She wasn’t surprised that the archangel would come up with something like that either, though.

“I have heard a lot about you, of course,” Caliel admitted looking from one man to the other and finally fixing her eyes on Castiel for a longer moment. They had never known each other well, but she still saw that he wasn’t quite the same angel he used to be and that wasn’t only due to his fading powers.

“Only the best, I hope,” Gabriel quipped with a curiously raised eyebrow.

“Not by a long stretch,” she replied very seriously, “We might not have a group name for you, but you’ve all got nicknames. The traitor, the draft resister, the abomination and the cowardly runaway, to name the most popular ones.”

None of them were quite honestly surprised, but that didn’t mean that they liked hearing the names the angels had chosen to give to them. Alright, they weren’t quite as imaginative as the various terms they had already come up with to describe the angels with. Dicks with wings came to mind.

“Charming,” Gabriel commented lightly, “That means you will be very happy to help us out, of course.”

“There’s a lot of things I’d happily do to you, but helping you out isn’t one of them,” Caliel shot back coldly, “Do you even have an idea about how… hurtful it was to realize you had just up and left? The last thing I ever heard from you was that you couldn’t stand all the fighting any longer and that something had to change. I thought you were going to actually _do_ something about it. I _believed_ in you!”

Gabriel had the good sense to look affected by her rant, though he was very close to telling her that it was her fault for believing in him, not his fault for not doing what she had thought he should.

“Look, Lady, we can all agree that he’s a massive douchebag,” Dean threw his two cents in, “But that can’t be your only reason for letting the entire world go to the dogs!”

“Y’know, Dean-o is right for once in his life,” Gabriel agreed with a shrug, “That would hardly be _fair_.”

As he remembered, she had been all about fairness and justice in the past. That surely was something that didn’t change with time. At least, Gabriel figured it shouldn’t.

“Look around you, Gabriel, what is ever fair anymore?” Caliel shot back somewhat bitterly, “I don’t see how I could help you, anyway.”

“With information, for starters. We are looking for the Horsemen,” Gabriel explained, “And I hoped you could spread the word that we’ll do everything to end this entire mess without Lucifer and Michael having their prizefight among the right people.”

“I see why suicidal idiots nearly made it to the team name,” the other angel commented dryly, “I might be able to gather some information for you, but you’re delusional if you think that anybody will be willing to follow you into any kind of battle.”

“Oh, don’t be so sure about that,” Gabriel replied in an upbeat tone. He walked up to her and put a finger under her chin before he leaned in a little and nearly whispered, “Despite your protests, you seem willing enough to me.”

Sam wasn’t quite sure why that simple gesture made him feel like he had just been punched in the guts, but it did. Him being jealous didn’t make any sense, so that couldn’t be it. He was wondering what the exact nature of their relationship had been before Gabriel had left heaven, however. But that was only about him being curious in general, clearly. And maybe about the slightest trace of jealousy about having to share the archangel’s attention. Sam simply had to admit at this point, that he did enjoy being the center of Gabriel’s attention.

“That’s because I’m a suicidal idiot,” Caliel shrugged and stepped away from the archangel, “I’ll let you know when I’ve got something. Make sure I can find you!”

Before Gabriel could reply she was gone already, which suited him just as well. They might have a lot of things to talk about, but he wasn’t really willing to have that talk, especially not with any of the others around.

“And now we summon Crowley,” the archangel stated in an upbeat tone after a moment. After all, the last meeting had gone reasonably well – better than he had expected, really – so he was in high spirits.

“ _This_ is where I draw the line!” Dean exploded, “We’re not asking a fucking demon to work with us!”

“He already showed that he is willing to help. What’s the big deal?” Gabriel asked over his shoulder as he arranged the things they would need to call Crowley. If the older Winchester actively tried to keep him from doing that, he would start to take his complaint more seriously.

“We hunt his kind! We don’t form any alliances with them!” Dean yelled and Bobby nodded beside him, though the older hunter seemed to consider the idea, at least. That was something Gabriel really could respect about Bobby Singer, he didn’t just shoot ideas down without ever thinking about them, at least not as often as Dean did.

“Come on, big boy, we just talk to him and if he gets annoying we smite him. So, suck it up!” the archangel pushed Dean’s complaints aside again and ignited the mixture he had put together with a snap of his fingers. He absolutely wasn’t collecting brownie points with the older Winchester like that, not that it mattered much.

It didn’t take long for the demon to show up and if he was surprised to see two angels with the humans he didn’t show it. Sam couldn’t help wondering if Gabriel might have hidden his angelic presence for this, but there really was no way to tell, and this wasn’t the moment to ask. It didn’t really matter, anyway.

“You lot really have nerves!” the demon ranted before anyone else could say anything, “I give you a weapon to kill Lucifer with at a great personal risk and you use it as a paperweight, or whatever it is you are doing with the thing!”

“You gave us a weapon that wouldn’t have worked on Lucifer!” Dean shot back at least as annoyed as Crowley was. Having to just sit around with your thumbs up your ass while Satan was summoning Death wasn’t something you just forgot and he blamed the demon for that one at least as much as the archangel.

The king of the crossroads deflated a little after hearing that. Apparently, he really hadn’t known about that little fact which was something, at least.

“Isn’t it good that you didn’t actually make an attempt at his life then?” Crowley asked, losing some of his smugness, “I think we can all agree that we should book this as a failure and never speak of it again.”

“Like hell we will! We want a refund,” Dean told the demon with a hard expression. Hell, if Gabriel thought he could run this entire show then he was wrong! It was high time that something went the way the older Winchester wanted it to go.

“And what did you have in mind?” Crowley replied unimpressed but with a raised eyebrow. It wasn’t like he had any other weapons to give to them. Besides, he had lost most of his things when he had given them the Colt. He had had to go into hiding to be on the safe side, after all. It seemed that he wasn’t on hell’s most wanted list yet, but once the Winchesters started to really use the Colt he would be in no time.

“The locations of the Horsemen,” the older Winchester stated. It wasn’t like the demon needed and further details and Dean would fight tooth and nail not to actually have Crowley as anything more than an informant. The stupid, annoying archangel would learn just how stubborn the older Winchester could be, if he thought that the demon would be allowed into the team.

“How do you think I would know about those?” Crowley asked, sounding nearly amused by the request.

“Are you really trying to tell us that you don’t have any usable source of information? Come on, those aren’t just any run of the mill demons we’re talking about, they have to draw attention to themselves!” Sam threw in incredulously.

“You want Lucifer dead. We’ll make sure he takes his leave, but you’d better help us with this,” Dean added a moment later. It was good to be on the same page as his brother again, for once. If they didn’t have to disagree about basically everything concerning the archangel all the time these days, they might have moments like this more often. He ignored that this moment had been brought on by one of Gabriel’s plans completely, though.

“If you two oafs can’t do anything by yourself, I’ll gladly be your knight in shining armor,” Crowley replied with a snort before he pointed into the general direction of the two angels, “Or is that what you have those two for?”

Bobby wasn’t quite unhappy that nobody was thinking about giving him nicknames or anything alike that day, but he couldn’t help feeling a little ignored. Then again, being ignored by a crossroads demon counted as a good thing.

“Nah, we’ll just smite your ass to the end of the galaxy and back again if you even think of double-crossing us,” Gabriel quipped with an expression that said that he was looking forward to making that threat reality, if he had to.

“How could I not put my heart and soul into this with all those persuasive arguments?” Crowley retorted, “I’d say we will be in contact.”

For the second time in the course of an hour another being vanished into thin air before anyone could say anything more. It seemed angels and demons alike liked having the last word.

“Great, now we have two more people who might sell us out at any second,” Dean commented on the general situation just to make sure that everybody understood he was not happy about it. He just hoped he’d get a chance to say ‘I told you so!’ before they all got killed.


	16. Chapter 16

** 16 **

 

“They died trying to eat each other?” Dean asked pulling a face, “That’s so disgusting.”

Jo had called the older Winchester just to check in with them and let them know that she and Ellen were both fine. The main reason for her call, other than talking about a possible new hunt, had been to remind Dean that she’d absolutely not appreciate being left out of the loop if they found anything new on Lucifer, however.

The older Winchester had given her a summary on what Gabriel’s plan looked like and had been positively surprised when Jo had been skeptic about it, at least. Yes, she was a very smart girl and he would count this as a good talk.

“Yeah, I agree, sounds like something we should check out,” he was just saying as Sam came back into the room, his hair still wet from the shower, “You take care with that Succubus. We’ll be in contact.”

Sam frowned slightly. It figured that he’d leave the room for ten minutes tops and miss something important. Okay, he was pretty sure that it was about a hunt and that they were meant to take it. Dean would fill him in on the details soon enough, he was sure. The call seemed to be nearly over, anyway.

Dean snorted but seemed slightly amused while doing it. “Happy Valentine’s to you, too.”

Well, at least Valentine’s Day wasn’t known to attract ghosts, witches and other nasties as Halloween was. And the holiday being an invention of florists to sell more flowers and the general pressure to do things for your loved one you wouldn’t do any other time of the year weren’t relevant for Dean, anyway. Besides, the part where the bars would be full of women looking for a last-minute Valentine’s date was something he could totally get behind.

“Ellen heard something about a couple with a love so great they could just eat each other up, literally,” the older Winchester explained to his brother while he pocketed his phone again, “They’re still on the Succubus hunt, though. So, pack up your things!”

The brothers had finished their own hunt and had been looking for something new, anyway, so they didn’t have to think about checking the case out.

Dean’s mood had improved over the past week, since Gabriel was rather busy trying to organize some sort of pagan god Band Aid for assistance in their fight against Lucifer and wasn’t around much. Apparently, he had a rather hard time finding gods who were thinking the Apocalypse was an actual problem and gods who weren’t pissed off at him.

The older Winchester wasn’t surprised. He had looked up some lore on Loki and if there was a grain of truth in it, then he didn’t think that Gabriel would manage to find anyone who would trust him. Not that the thought that they wouldn’t have to deal with a bunch of pagan gods honestly troubled him. He was still waiting for a good moment to bring that six-legged horse up, however.

It wasn’t long before they were on the road and Sam had started on the research.

“They suspect it’s a strange case of ritualistic cannibalism,” the younger Winchester said with a thoughtful frown, “Or drugs.”

So, basically they had to come up with some explanation and didn’t really know anything at all, yet. Then again, if Sam hadn’t known for a fact that something that looked this strange was very likely to have a supernatural explanation, then he would have thought about drugs or psychic problems, as well.

“So, they know nothing and we start from scratch,” Dean summed the situation up, “Business as usual.”

That actually made the older Winchester feel rather good for a moment. Just him and Sam and a new case and wasn’t that how things were supposed to be?

 

* * *

 

 

The talk to the female victim’s roommate and the coroner hadn’t really given them any leads. They could rule out demons or ghosts rather definitely, though. No sulfur, no EMF and no cold spots or anything alike made it rather likely that they should look for something else. Well, it wasn’t like Sam had any other plans than work this out.

“Dean, you look like you’re going to explode any second now. Just go,” the younger Winchester said after a couple of minutes of browsing through things on his laptop, “But remember, what happens on Valentine’s Day is not something I want to hear about.”

Especially not in detail, but most of the time they were on the same page where stories about their sex-lives were concerned. There are just things that brothers didn’t need to share with each other. Not that Sam would have had much to share to begin with.

“Sure thing, Sammy,” Dean agreed easily, already grabbing his jacket, “You remember, if you want to call a hooker, she better be gone before I come back!”

The older Winchester closed the door just a moment before a cheeseburger-wrapper came flying his way.

Trust Dean to make Sam sort of embarrassed about immediately grabbing his phone after his brother had gone. ‘Any ideas what makes two people eat each other?’ he typed a message to Gabriel. There really was no reason not to at least try to ask the archangel for his input. Besides, they hadn’t really had much contact lately and it was beginning to irk Sam just a little. After all, he had all those emotions he still couldn’t really make sense of and they wouldn’t get any clearer if Gabriel stayed away.

He didn’t have to wait long for an answer. ‘The fun kind or the icky kind?’

“There’s a fun kind?” Sam muttered. His head was too filled with pictures of what those people had done to each other to consider other, more pleasant situations the words could be applied to as well.

“Whatever did you do in college?” Gabriel asked suddenly appearing on the other side of the room, but walking over to Sam immediately.

“Oh, eww,” he commented after he caught sight of some photos of the crime scene, “That’s definitely not the fun kind.”

The younger Winchester just nodded his agreement. It was an understatement, but it was true nevertheless. Though apparently, the hormone levels in both bodies suggested that they had rather happily devoured each other. Not that that made it any less disgusting.

“Demons, ghosts, mind control, witches,” Gabriel began to list possible causes for very strange and self-destructive behavior, “Or he just thought she was such a sweet person and she thought he looked good enough to eat.”

The explanations of the supernatural kind were more likely in this case, however. Someone cutting off an ear or a limb out of the blue was most likely madness. Someone killing someone else just like that was human nature, if you wanted to be cynical about it. But this sort of double murder, double suicide, mutual cannibalism or whatever else you wanted to call it, was way out of being anything like ordinary. Granted, humans could be very crazy. Crazier than most of them liked to acknowledge, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t heavily assisted in their way to madness quite often.

“So, you’ve got nothing,” Sam stated with a sigh. He wasn’t getting anywhere, either. This might be the point where they couldn’t do much but wait for the next thing to happen so they could figure out a pattern. Yes, that always sucked out loud.

“Nothing more than you do,” Gabriel confirmed. Well, he had a niggling feeling at the very edge of his consciousness, but that was really nothing he could talk about or describe. It didn’t help that he had other feelings to deal with, either.

“Hey, Sammy, be my Valentine?” Gabriel suddenly asked offering a box of chocolates to the other man. He had gotten Sam to recognize that there was something between them, or that there might be at some point in the future, anyway. Now he had to get things to move along. This seemed innocent and simple enough not to spook the other man too badly.

“What exactly does that imply?” Sam asked a little warily, but at the same time curiously. It wasn’t like he was inclined to shoot the archangel down completely, but he really couldn’t go from zero to a hundred this quickly.

“How about watching a movie and eating chocolate?” Gabriel suggested with such an innocently hopeful expression that the younger Winchester couldn’t have declined if he had wanted to.

It didn’t surprise Sam that the crappy TV set in the motel room gave a perfectly clear and sharp picture. After all, he was sitting next to an archangel who really wasn’t above using his powers for whatever the hell he wanted.

“Oh, Friday the 13th,” Gabriel exclaimed while zapping through the channels.

The sour look the younger Winchester shot him for that comment made him reconsider his enthusiasm immediately. Alright, maybe watching that movie wasn’t fun once you had been forced to play a part in it.

“Right, sorry,” he apologized not all too apologetically. Hey, if he started to apologize for everything he had done now… Actually, that might be a good idea, now that he thought about it.

“You know, I never said sorry,” Gabriel mused thoughtfully, looking over to Sam and forgetting about the plan to find some movie to watch for the moment being.

“What for?” Sam asked, because really, there was so much the archangel should be sorry for and even more he might be sorry for. Besides, if he chose to apologize about the time he had made the brothers spend in TV-land, he might as well say it clearly.

“Mystery spot, to begin with,” the archangel replied after a moment of consideration. He had to admit that that was the worst he had done to the younger Winchester quite definitely.

“Don’t!” Sam reacted rather strongly to the mention of that particular episode of their lives, “We’re not talking about this!”

He was doing everything he could to just put that behind him and ignore it ever happened completely. Most of the time, other things were much more pressing, so it wasn’t that hard to do. Dean’s actual death, Ruby and Lucifer had taken Sam’s mind off the things that had happened at the Broward County mystery spot, but there was no way he could go on not thinking about it when Gabriel wanted to apologize for what he had done. Yes, this was definitely one of the few things Sam didn’t want to talk about.

“Look, I never apologized for that,” the archangel wouldn’t leave well enough alone and earned himself a bitch-face and an interruption that way.

“Technically, you still haven’t,” Sam declared before he added with a sigh, “And you shouldn’t, if you don’t mean it, anyway.”

After all, it had all about teaching him a lesson and Gabriel clearly had meant it, so if he apologized, he would only be paying lip service and Sam could do without that. This far he felt like their interaction had been honest at least and he wanted for things to stay that way.

“But I am sorry!” Gabriel insisted moving a little closer to the younger Winchester which, surprisingly enough, the other man allowed, “I am sorry I hurt you so badly, I am sorry it did nothing to help you in the end, but most of all I’m sorry that I misjudged your character as much as I did.”

So, maybe a general apology for the mystery spot incident wouldn’t have been completely honest, but what he had said had been.

“What… what do you mean?” Sam asked. His voice had softened some since the last time he had spoken, but he very clearly wasn’t fond of the topic, still. He wanted to see this through, though.

“Brothers always leave you on your own in the end. They’ll be gone and you’ll have to find a way to deal. The sooner you just accept that, the sooner you’ll be standing tall again. That’s my experience, anyway,” the archangel explained with a deepening frown, “I failed to see that you and Dean are different – in a nearly creepily co-dependent sort of way, to be honest – and when you just wouldn’t let it go, I didn’t call quits and just kept going. I’m sorry for that.”

Sam nodded stiffly. He thought it would be better not to try and speak with the lump in his throat. He really hadn’t expected that an apology would do anything for him, but he did feel a little better. There was no way he would ever be able to say something like ‘I see now that you were only trying to help me and you were completely right, so you are forgiven’. But, he could see that Gabriel really was sorry and because of that he could begin to truly forgive him instead of only trying to forget it ever happened.

“You promised a movie and chocolate,” Sam finally spoke, relaxing into the motel couch that didn’t feel quite as crappy as it looked – no question – thanks to Gabriel.

And if by the end of the comedy they had settled for the archangel’s hand was touching the human’s and if Sam did nothing to move away and felt rather good about it, it was nobody’s business but theirs.


	17. Chapter 17

** 17 **

 

The next morning, both Sam and Dean were in a rather good mood. Although, that was until they heard about the new double suicide that had happened the night before. Well, it wasn’t like they could have done anything to prevent it from happening, but it still dampened their mood some.

“So, you talk to the coroner and I interview the witnesses?” Sam asked putting his coffee aside without drinking it. He was feeling a little queasy, but that was probably due to eating more chocolate than he had planned to the night before.

“Nah, let’s go speak to the coroner together,” Dean replied with a shrug. He did not elaborate on why he thought that was the better option, but his brother was willing to indulge him, anyway.

They made their way straight to the morgue and the older Winchester used the time they needed to get there to tell Sam about the night he had had in mercifully little detail.

“You should have been there, the bar was great,” Dean finished with a grin. He really thought his younger brother would have enjoyed himself, as well.

“Yeah, sounds like it,” Sam replied a little distractedly, but there had been something strange about the man they had just passed by. He couldn’t put his finger on what exactly had caught his attention, though.

“You okay?” the older Winchester asked with a slight frown, examining his brother thoroughly.

“Huh? Yeah, sure,” Sam replied with a little forced smile. He really needed to watch the things Gabriel made him eat in the future. The queasy feeling just wouldn’t leave him alone and made him feel a little paranoid on top of everything.

Dean wasn’t convinced, but they had reached the morgue so he didn’t ask again.

The coroner was willing enough to just let them investigate on their own, which really made looking for any unusual signs a lot easier. After all, they could barely talk about Enochian signs on the hearts of both the new victims with a civilian around. Calling Castiel to come over and the angel just popping up right in front of Dean wouldn’t have gone down well, either.

Gabriel showing up right after the other angel did annoy the older Winchester to no end, however.

“What the hell? Did you bug Cas’ phone or something?” he demanded hotly, narrowing his eyes at the archangel. Really, nobody was ever calling the jerk, but that didn’t keep him from showing up anyway. Something had to be up with that!

“I allowed Gabriel to put a tag on me,” Castiel replied calmly, examining his surroundings and landing his eyes on the two hearts lying on the table in their plastic boxes.

“So I could always find him without being summoned,” Gabriel elaborated with a casual shrug, his eyes wandering over to the younger Winchester repeatedly.

“Wonderful, just wonderful,” Dean groaned as he went to show Castiel what they had found.

Behind his brother’s back, Sam was shooting Gabriel a very clearly questioning look which the archangel answered with a gesture indicating a phone. He wouldn’t have put any kind of tag or mark on Sam without asking him first, unless he felt it was absolutely needed. He felt no such qualms about tagging his telephone, however. The younger Winchester shook his head slightly, but didn’t seem unhappy with the situation which was good enough for sure.

“It looks like a Cupid has gone rogue,” Castiel commented with a frown. It wasn’t like things like that were supposed to happen. In fact, he wasn’t sure if something quite like this had happened before. Cupids getting too enthusiastic usually ended in mass weddings or orgies, not in killings. But they had the same potential to use their powers for evil as everybody else had, of course.

“Oh come on,” Gabriel stated with an amused chuckle, “Cupids are little, annoying cowards!”

“You never told us that you were a Cupid!” Dean shot back immediately, a satisfied smile on his face.

“Walked right into that one,” Gabriel admitted, absently noticing that he had moved closer to Sam and could have taken his hand any moment. Not that he would do it, since the younger Winchester clearly wouldn’t appreciate that around his older brother. The temptation was there, however.

“Alright, let’s get our bows and arrows and shoot ourselves a Cupid,” Dean declared enthusiastically. He just loved when things fell into place!

 

* * *

 

 

The restaurant was a much nicer place than they usually went to, but it really looked like a good place to begin the search for Cupid in. After all, it seemed like a lot of dates and people willing to date went here.

Dean had just been about to bite into his cheeseburger when he noticed Castiel staring at it intently. He frowned, but offered the burger to the angel. He wasn’t all that hungry, anyway.

Castiel reached for the offered food clearly looking forward to sinking his teeth into it.

“Since when are you eating?” Dean asked curiously. That he didn’t mind sharing – he still had the fries left, after all – with his friend didn’t mean that he wasn’t curious what had brought the sudden interest into food on.

“I have been wondering what it would be like for a long time,” the angel admitted and finally took a bite. The look on his face was so close to absolute bliss that Dean was actually tempted to demand to have his burger back. At the same time, he enjoyed knowing that Cas was having a good time because of it.

“He’s here,” Castiel said still chewing, indicating a door in the back of the restaurant. He was gone before the others could say anything, but it was clear enough that he wanted them to follow to the back.

Dean, Sam and Gabriel stood up immediately, but it seemed like Castiel had their target both located and cornered before they even reached him. Granted, Gabriel might have just flown after his brother, but he had seen no reason to leave the younger Winchester’s side.

“We can’t see him,” Sam stated, because he had to assume that the Cupid was where Castiel’s outstretched hand was pointing. The archangel muttered a couple of words under his breath and a very naked, chubby Cupid manifested himself.

“I didn’t need to see _that_!” Dean exclaimed shuddering.

The horror-stricken expression on the older Winchester’s face when the Cupid advanced on him to hug him tightly was priceless, in Gabriel’s opinion. Castiel’s perfectly awkward expression was about as good, but he was bothered by Sam’s helplessly uncomfortable one. The archangel cleared his throat noisily, opening his arms wide in invitation.

“Hello, you,” the Cupid immediately shifted his attention to Gabriel and gave him a tight hug, which the archangel returned.

“Nah, hello, _you_ ,” he grinned. Yes, they were little, annoying cowards, but Gabriel had always liked them. Birds of a feather and all that.

“This is their greeting,” Castiel explained for the very bewildered looking Winchesters, “Like a handshake, if you will.”

Gabriel really was the only person the angel knew of who seemed to like it, though.

“Right,” Dean replied before he addressed the Cupid, “Listen, you ever try to _greet_ me again, my shoe and your ass will start a loving relationship, understood?”

He didn’t plan to spend much time around the cherub, or ever meet him again, but better safe than sorry.

“That sounded kind of wrong,” Sam commented with an amused half-smile.

“Shut up,” the older Winchester shot back eloquently as always. They weren’t here for idle small talk, anyway.

“You!” Dean stated in a hard tone, pointing his index finger at the Cupid.

The cherub winced slightly, but looked back at the older Winchester completely innocently.

“Me?” he asked in a childlike voice.

“Why are you killing all those people?” Sam asked sternly, which Gabriel found slightly amusing. The younger Winchester was always asking for reasons, never just if somebody had done something, but always why they had done it. Alright, they were assuming that they knew he was the killer they were looking for at this point.

“I didn’t kill anyone!” the Cupid exclaimed sounding affronted, “I am a lover, not a fighter!”

“The people you marked, they are slaughtering each other,” Castiel insisted.

The cherub looked positively nauseous after hearing that. “But I… I just brought them together and then went my merry ways, I swear!”

He sounded honest enough, but that was barely proof for his innocence. Hell, if looking or sounding innocent was something like a ‘get free from jail’-card, Sam would never have any problems with law-enforcement.

Gabriel decided to chance a look into his brother’s head to clear things up faster.

“He’s telling the truth, you know,” the archangel stated with a shrug and was tightly hugged by the Cupid for his troubles. Not that he minded that too much. Unfortunately, it was the wrong guy who was throwing himself at him, though. It would have absolutely made his day if Sam had suddenly decided that he was up for naked cuddles.

Dean gave Castiel a doubting look. He wasn’t really willing to just take Gabriel’s word for it, even though he had to admit that the archangel had nothing to gain by lying to them. Castiel got the hint and placed a hand against the Cupid’s head for a moment, before he removed it again and nodded toward the older Winchester. Yes, the Cupid had spoken the truth when he had said that he hadn’t killed anyone.

So, they had to go back to the start again.

 

* * *

 

 

Taking ‘love’ out of the equation brought up some more strange deaths that had occurred very recently. They would have to wait until morning to examine the bodies, however. It wasn’t a clear picture by any means and they hadn’t been able to draw any coherent conclusions, but it was something, at least.

“Sammy, why don’t we just have a beer and watch some TV?” Dean suddenly asked waving the second bottle he was holding into his brother’s direction.

Sam really wasn’t up to that all too much. First of all, he was feeling restless for some reason. The queasy feeling he had had in the morning had never quite left him, either.

“We never do that, anymore,” Dean added with a rather hopeful tone that made Sam reconsider shooting the request down. Watching some TV wouldn’t hurt, after all.

They had only just settled for some MacGyver reruns when the flutter of wings announced that Castiel had returned. The angel had left pretty quickly after their encounter with the Cupid.

“Dude, did you go on a food run?” Dean asked with a smirk, looking at the bag the angel was holding. If he wasn’t completely wrong, it was full of fast food.

Castiel looked like he had just been caught red-handed, though he knew that he had nothing to hide and if he had wanted to hide something in the first place, he shouldn’t have come back to the motel room.

“Come on, sit your ass down,” Dean suggested, patting the spot next to him on the couch.

As usual, Castiel did as he was told and sat next to the Winchester brothers stiffly. He had never had occasion to watch much TV, so he didn’t know the show they were watching, of course. It didn’t seem all too complicated to him, however. Most of his attention was captured by the delicious cheeseburgers he had gone to get, though.

“This is nice,” Dean sighed contently which alienated his brother a little. After all, the older Winchester wasn’t one for sharing and caring and having bonding moments like the one he had just insisted they all have usually. Then again, the antsy feeling he hadn’t been able to shake off was distracting him from thinking about it too much. It wasn’t anywhere near unbearable, but it was getting annoying. The case had just taken too long without getting anywhere, already. Once they knew what they were hunting and how to kill it, he’d be okay again, Sam was sure.

“God, this hurts to watch,” Dean commented as MacGyver was taking a car apart mid-drive to build weapons against the bad guys in the car following him.

“Is something wrong with your eyes?” Castiel asked with a small frown.

“Figure of speech, Cas,” Dean replied affectionately pushing his shoulder against the angel’s.

Sam just shook his head slightly amused as his phone announced that he had received a text-message.

‘Meet me back at the restaurant.’ Gabriel had written and the younger Winchester didn’t think long before he got up.

“Gabriel might have found some information,” he told the other two, already grabbing his jacket, “I need to get some fresh air, anyway. You two have fun!”

Some other day he would have enjoyed just sitting there watching a stupid old TV-show with his brother, but he just felt too restless as things were and the hurt look on his brother’s face didn’t change anything about that, even if Sam was kind of sorry for it.

“But, Sam, you can’t just leave now!” Dean insisted as close to pouting as he would ever get.

“Sorry, we’ll have to postpone this, but you still have Cas,” the younger Winchester apologized and was rather glad to see that his brother was apparently content enough only having the angel around, as well.

“But you owe me a movie night!” Dean called after his brother just before Sam closed the door behind himself.


	18. Chapter 18

** 18 **

 

Sam reached the restaurant quicker than he had thought and only then noticed that he had worked up a slight sweat by basically running over. That stupid restless feeling be damned!

He took a couple of seconds to breathe and fight the antsiness and the queasiness, both of which had returned full force, down.

He’d be damned, if he walked in there as if he was looking forward to seeing the archangel so much that he just couldn’t wait. The realization that anticipation might at least be a part of what he was feeling hit Sam hard, but he wasn’t completely surprised.

What was surprising was that Gabriel was nowhere to be seen. So, the younger Winchester took a seat at the bar and ordered himself a ginger ale.

He really wondered how it was possible that he had arrived before the archangel. As he had discovered earlier Gabriel should know for certain where he was, he had taken his phone with him, after all. So why the hell was the other man nowhere in sight?

Yes, Sam definitely was impatient. Having to wait really was no explanation for the very high level of impatience and irritation he felt, though. This just wasn’t like him and while he enjoyed being around Gabriel and was looking forward to seeing him more often than not these days, it wasn’t like he couldn’t breathe without the other man.

Sam frowned deeply considering all this and got lost in his thoughts to an extent that caused him to jump slightly when a small hand touched his shoulder.

“Are you waiting for someone?” the woman asked in a soft, melodic voice.

The younger Winchester wasn’t really paying attention to her, but he noticed that she had shoulder length brown hair and was wearing a formfitting blue dress. Dean would have been all over her, Sam guessed.

“Yeah, actually I am,” he replied absentmindedly and probably not quite as politely as he might have been, but he was a little unnerved by the way she was squeezing his shoulder. It wasn’t like women were ignoring him usually, but they weren’t throwing themselves at him, either. That was more Dean’s thing and Sam could honestly say that he wasn’t envious about that, especially not as things were.

The younger Winchester felt a pang of guilt only considering doing anything with anyone, really. Technically, he hadn’t promised anything to Gabriel, but he felt that he had given the other man hopes, lately. Frankly, that alone would be enough to make Sam feel like he was cheating on him, even though they didn’t have a relationship. Dean would probably kick his ass for sort of considering Gabriel to be his partner first and then laugh his ass off about his brother’s moral conception.

The older Winchester surely would agree that punching a woman in the face for being annoying, not getting a hint, standing far too close and insistently rubbing your arm wasn’t the way to go, though.

“Listen, Lady -,” Sam had been about to tell the woman to back the hell off, because he didn’t enjoy having someone, especially a random stranger, feel him up in public, but then he stopped and just stared at her.

“Gabriel?” he asked a little uncertain, because other than the eyes the woman didn’t have anything in common with the archangel. God, wouldn’t it be embarrassing if he was wrong about this?

The woman’s face lit up with unconcealed happiness, which Sam took as a confirmation of his guess. When the hell had the entire world started to go crazy?

The younger Winchester quickly put some money on the counter and grabbed Gabriel’s hand to pull him… her… him out of the restaurant.

“Woah, Sammy, hold your horses!” Gabriel exclaimed, following the other man without putting up any resistance, however. It wasn’t like he hadn’t planned for exactly this to happen, only at a later point in time.

“The hell, Gabriel?” Sam asked releasing the archangel’s hand and standing in front of him – there was no way he would start considering him as a her – with a stern expression. Really, the younger Winchester was only just getting accustomed to falling for a man and now said man had to mess with his head even further!

“I know you like me. The male body was a problem, so it had to go,” Gabriel replied, waggling his eyebrows which looked just wrong on the face of that woman.

“Just tell me, right now, you didn’t go and bother some poor woman into giving you consent to use her body,” Sam groaned and stopped Gabriel from moving closer to him with an outstretched arm. This just was too plain weird for the younger Winchester.

“Nah, I showed her a picture of you and she was convinced,” the archangel answered with a casual shrug before he added, chuckling, “Just kidding, Sammybear, it’s just a trick, a very elaborate illusion, really.”

He didn’t quite understand why the young man still wouldn’t let him get any closer, though.

“Dammit, Gabriel, this is not _you_ ,” Sam stated looking a little pained. He shouldn’t have to explain this to the other man! He didn’t have the right words to say why this bothered him as much as it did that would be both effective and true, either.

The archangel frowned and ran his fingers over Sam’s outstretched arm instead of trying to get any real body contact for the moment being.

“You don’t want _me_ ,” he muttered sounding like having to say this hurt him physically, “I just thought…”

It was weird having to watch the archangel fighting to find the right words and losing.

“It’s your real self that I…” Sam mumbled back, trailing off because this was what he really didn’t have the right words for, the point that confused the hell out of him and just wouldn’t make real sense no matter how much he thought about it.

He liked Gabriel, he wanted to have him around, but at the same time, the thought of anything physical felt weird to him. Only, when the archangel was actually touching him it didn’t feel wrong and he liked the sensation a lot and that was what spoke against purely friendly feelings. Yes, Sam just didn’t know what to make of all this, but he knew that he didn’t want the archangel to change anything – or at least, anything big – about himself.

He sighed relieved at the sight of Gabriel’s usual male body in front of him and gave the archangel a genuine, dimpled smile.

Sam let his arms dangle by his sides, feeling a lot more comfortable in the presence of the archangel when he was looking like he usually did. Maybe he wouldn’t have, if he had suspected the sudden attack that would follow.

Gabriel’s lips didn’t feel bad against Sam’s and he wasn’t bothered by the hands gripping his hair and pulling gently. Hell, he wasn’t even bothered by the tongue that had sneaked its way into his mouth when he had gasped in surprise. He really was over the point of being bothered by not being bothered, too.

However, it disturbed him when Gabriel suddenly pulled away completely and just looked at Sam slightly dazed, but clearly troubled himself.

“What are you doing?” the younger Winchester asked a little breathless. He wasn’t quite sure if he had just asked why Gabriel had kissed him in the first place or why he had stopped, though.

One of the archangel’s hands found their way back into the younger man’s hair on its own accord as he started to nuzzle Sam’s neck.

“That’s a good question,” he replied in a very soft tone, pressing tender kisses against every part of Sam’s neck he could reach.

The younger Winchester did nothing at all to stop him, he didn’t really participate, though. His entire posture wasn’t exactly tense, but it wasn’t completely relaxed, either. When the archangel’s second hand found its way to the hem of the t-shirt Sam was wearing the younger man gently pushed Gabriel away, however.

“Sorry… I’m just… this is…” the Winchester spluttered clearly embarrassed. Things were going a little too fast for him to progress. He was only just trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he had liked that kiss, everything going further would be too much too soon, however. Of course, they were in a public place, too.

“Too soon, I know,” the archangel replied, looking like he couldn’t quite understand what was going on, either, “I know that, Sam, I do.”

It cost him a lot of willpower to let the younger man go completely and not just move back in to kiss him some more or do other things to him, really. He knew that he had pushed his luck with the kiss. No, he had pushed his luck with the stupid stunt he had pulled with suddenly looking female, already.

Thinking about it, he didn’t even know why he had done that. The archangel just knew that he had really wanted to get things to move along with the younger Winchester and he had felt like he couldn’t wait. Removing the part where he was technically male from the equation had looked like a quick way to reach his goal, although Gabriel had decided for himself that he wanted something honest with Sam some time ago. For the first time in ages he wanted something serious with someone he could be himself around. But sometime since last seeing the younger Winchester and texting him the insanely strong need to just have him had overcome the archangel.

“I know it’s too soon, but I want you… I need you…” Gabriel babbled while pacing and then suddenly stopped, “I have to go!”

Before Sam could even hope to understand what had just happened or what the archangel had talked about he vanished into thin air. He continued to just stare for a couple of moments before an intense wave of nausea nearly brought him to his knees. Something was completely fucked up here!

Standing straight and walking back toward the hotel room, Sam still tried and failed to make sense of whatever the hell had happened. He was just about to pull his own hair in frustration, when his phone announced the arrival of a message.

‘Famine’ Gabriel had written. Only one word, but it made the younger Winchester basically sprint back to the motel room where, hopefully, Dean and Castiel were.

He opened the door to find the angel still sitting stiffly on the couch, but there were enough cheeseburger-wrappers to give away that he must have been out to get some more at least once since Sam had left.

Castiel looked over to the younger Winchester still chewing, but seeming perplexed by his sudden reappearance and by the urgent movements that only stopped when he had come close enough to see his older brother.

Dean must have fallen asleep at some point and Sam was really tempted to take a picture of the way his older brother’s head lay in the angel’s lap while he was seemingly clutching one of Castiel’s legs. They had more pressing matters to attend to, however.

“Dean, wake up!” Sam stated loudly, which made the angel look at him even more puzzled.

“Cas,” Dean whined in his sleep nuzzling his friend some more, but not waking up.

At this point, Castiel was only confused by everything going on, but he found he didn’t mind too much as long as he wasn’t running out of cheeseburgers.

“Dean!” Sam nearly yelled at his older brother.

“Sammy, you’re back,” Dean yawned but sat up immediately, not even looking embarrassed about the position he had been in only seconds earlier, “That’s good, that’s really good.”

The older Winchester really was happy to have his brother back with them. He had been tempted to call him just to check that he was alright and to ask him to return before he had fallen asleep, in fact. So, he had missed his little brother, sue him!

“It’s Famine,” Sam told the other two without beating about the bush, because he was hit by another wave of nausea that he now realized was rather intense want. God, why did he have to hunger for demon blood of all things? He’d have preferred to have a severe case of the cuddles, as Gabriel did!

“Famine?” Dean asked with a frown, “But Cas is the only one who seems hungry.”

The angel stopped chewing for a few moments to consider this. It made a lot of sense to him, really.

“Famine doesn’t only mean hunger for food, Dean,” he explained, “It can be hunger for anything.”

Sam felt his face heat up thinking about Gabriel and about his own hunger for demon blood.

“I… it got me, too… demon blood… I didn’t… I haven’t… but I want it,” he finally managed to admit. Yes, he somehow wished he would have had to admit to having the hots for Gabriel instead of wanting demon blood again. In comparison, coming out as possibly gay or rather bi-sexual seemed like the better option.

Then again, it looked like he would have to admit that he had a crush on the archangel sometime soon, as well.

“Alright, we better cut the ring off the fucker’s finger as soon as possible then,” Dean stated definitely. The other two easily agreed with that.


	19. Chapter 19

** 19 **

 

The only good thing about Sam’s hunger for demon blood was that he could basically smell when a demon came close to them. And the only good thing about the entire town going batshit insane was that it wasn’t so hard to come across a demon trying to harvest the soul of a recently deceased person to bring it to Famine.

A Biggerson’s restaurant seemed like a pretty ironic choice of a headquarter for Famine, but they had followed the demon here and it didn’t look like any normal activities were going on at the place anymore, so they were exactly where they had to be.

Sam was pretty much shaking with the want for any demon’s blood at that point, but there was no turning back here. Besides, Dean had shot down his idea about staying at the motel room, preferably chained to something very sturdy, saying that they absolutely needed to stick together. It seemed that Famine had succeeded to make Dean very clingy, or rather hunger for companionship.

The older Winchester had been very distraught when Castiel had been gone for a couple of minutes to get a few more cheeseburgers. Yes, there was no way that he could have left Sam at the motel room without going crazy over it.

“Will you be okay when Cas goes in at the back?” Sam asked breathing rather hard and pinching the bridge of his nose in pain, “He’ll be there the entire time. We just won’t see him for a little bit.”

“Yeah, sure,” Dean replied and nodded, but his eyes strayed to the backseat where their angelic friend was chewing on his latest burger. Sure, it would be no big deal not to actually see him for a couple of minutes tops. The older Winchester was certain that he could absolutely handle that. He’d still have Sammy with him, so he’d be okay.

He knew very faintly that he shouldn’t be feeling like this, but that didn’t help with the overwhelming want to keep his family close to him. He had been very tempted to call Bobby to come and help just to make sure that the older hunter was with them as well, but he was too far away to get here in time. He still had Sam and Cas, though.

Despite his words, Dean still looked pretty dejected once Castiel disappeared from the backseat. They would see the angel again very soon, though. He had to remind himself of that repeatedly so he wouldn’t start to hyperventilate.

“Let’s go,” the older Winchester said opening the door. He never took his eyes off Sam’s every move, however. Now that Cas wasn’t there he just had to make sure that his brother stayed close.

It wasn’t that easy for Sam to walk straight and focus on anything but the fact that demons had to be somewhere around here. Yes, they were pretty much screwed, but he and Dean were only meant to distract their enemies while Castiel got close enough to take Famine out, anyway. Out of the three of them, the angel had the clearest mind still, so that seemed most promising.

They had barely walked through the door when demons started attacking them from all sides. Not that they were honestly surprised by this. They hadn’t exactly sneaked up on the place.

Two burly demons managed to grab Dean before he could harm any of them.

Next to him, Sam got the chance to stab one of his attackers, before he realized his mistake. Resisting the demons had been nearly impossible while they had only been there, but now that he had spilled the blood of one of them there was no way he could keep himself in check.

“So weak, so human,” Famine commented in his wheezing voice from his wheelchair, “So hungry!”

Sam would be lying if he said that he wasn’t going nearly insane from being kept away from the still flowing blood by the two demons that had managed to grab him in the meantime.

He wished he didn’t want the blood that badly. He really wished he would want anything else instead.

Castiel had this insane longing for cheeseburgers, Dean was going crazy over making sure that he was close to his family, Gabriel wanted Sam so badly that he needed to somehow force himself to stay away from the human to make sure he didn’t harm him, but Sam just had to want something so dark and twisted that nobody ever should want it to begin with.

“Let him go,” Famine ordered and the two demons let the younger Winchester loose immediately. He wished to God they hadn’t though.

“No,” Sam whispered, “Please.”

But he was already on his way – more crawling than walking, really – to the fallen demon anyway.

“Cas!” Dean yelled frantically. He just knew that he would lose his brother if the angel didn’t intervene immediately. He had lost his brother to his blood-addiction once before, after all. The older Winchester was pretty much reduced to shuddering as he fought to keep breathing when his younger brother reached the dead demon and began to drink what blood hadn’t spilled to the floor.

“Cas!” Dean called again, weaker this time, because he was pretty much hyperventilating. It didn’t help his condition any that the angel should have been there but wasn’t.

Just when the older Winchester thought that he couldn’t take anymore Castiel appeared with a knife in hand. The relief of seeing that the angel was alright alone, was enough to make Dean feel a lot better, but then Castiel stopped in his tracks and fixed his eyes on a big plate stacked with cheeseburgers at one of the tables.

“Cas, no!” Dean begged more than anything else. The angel couldn’t help himself as he was drawn to the burgers, though. The knife made a clattering sound as it hit the floor, but the older Winchester barely acknowledged this over the sound of his own heartbeat.

Only a few feet away from him, his younger brother couldn’t pay any attention to the angel’s failed attempt at killing Famine, either. Sam had lapped up all the blood he could have very quickly and was throwing himself at another demon that stood too close to him. If any of the others wanted to help the demon they were stopped by Famine. Sam didn’t care, either way.

“Isn’t it ironic,” Famine rasped, looking at Dean with his cold eyes, “Everyone is dying of overeating; only you will starve.”

The older Winchester knew that this was true, too. He had lost Sam to demon blood and Castiel to cheeseburgers, of all things. There was nothing left for him and it was killing him. Rather quickly too, if the way he just couldn’t breathe right anymore was an indication.

“Leave my brother alone,” Sam growled. After being done with the second demon he had found the strength to ignore the other demons, even if their blood still sang to him.

The younger Winchester tried everything to set his mind to the single task of getting to the knife on the floor and cut Famine’s ring off his finger, before the want for demon blood overruled everything else again.

The remaining demons wanted to stop him, but Sam could deal with them. He had never exorcised five demons at once before, but as hyped up as he was, he felt like there was nothing he couldn’t do. In fact, pulling the demons out of their host bodies wasn’t even hard.

He watched with some horror as Famine immediately devoured the black smoke, though. Feeding the Horseman hadn’t been what he had had on his mind, at all.

An idea struck him just a moment later, however. Sam extended his hand toward the frail-looking figure on the wheelchair, a look of determined concentration on his face.

“I'm a Horseman, Sam. Your power doesn't work on me,” Famine stated in a taunting voice.

“But it will on them,” Sam pressed through gritted teeth as he tried to locate and use his powers on the essence of all the demons the Horseman had devoured. He had no idea what exactly that would do to Famine, but any effect at all would be better than nothing, already.

As a matter of fact, the Horseman began to writhe in pain quickly enough, though the younger Winchester began to understand that this wouldn’t kill him and he also knew he couldn’t keep it up for very much longer.

“Dean, help!” Sam exclaimed urgently and got through to his brother with it.

Dean scrambled to his feet and grabbed the knife Castiel had dropped earlier. It took nearly every ounce of strength he had left to cut Famine’s ring from his finger and he dropped to his knees next to the now empty wheelchair as soon as he was done.

The overwhelming feelings were gone, but he still knew what he had felt and thought just minutes ago. The shadow of the feeling that Sam and Cas had abandoned him, that he was completely on his own wouldn’t leave easily. Dean didn’t have the strength to feel embarrassed about anything he had said and the cuddling he had done yet. That was something.

Castiel had put the burger he had been holding down pretty much the second Famine had disappeared. The taste still agreed with him, but he didn’t feel the urge to eat anymore.

Sam, on the other hand, was left knowing that he would want more blood as soon as he came down from his current high. He forced himself to walk over to his brother and offered a hand to help him up.

“We probably don’t have too long, until…” Sam murmured, not looking at Dean or Castiel.

“Yeah,” Dean agreed, sort of happy that his brother had been the one to start with the topic. This wasn’t going to be fun for any of them, but at least this time Sam acknowledged that he had a problem.

“Let’s go,” the younger Winchester suggested with a sigh. What little he remembered from his last cold turkey was very unpleasant and he wasn’t looking forward to repeating the experience, but he didn’t want to completely ruin things with his brother again, either. Dean’s breakdown over realizing that he was about to lose his brother and his friend was still fresh on Sam’s mind and while Famine had made his brother’s feelings that strong in the first place, they had to be somewhere inside him, as well.

“Hey, things will be okay, Sammy,” Dean reassured his younger brother with a small, forced smile before he put a hand on his shoulder, “It wasn’t your fault.”

Yeah, there was that, at least.

 

* * *

 

 

It was early in the morning when Gabriel appeared at Bobby’s house. The archangel was looking a little worse for the wear, but Dean didn’t take the time to notice that before he pointed a finger at him accusingly.

“You just left us!” he yelled furiously. Really, he was done with the helpless sadness he had felt right after they had locked Sam up in the panic room and the younger man had started to beg for forgiveness, for help and for more of the damn demon blood respectively.

The withdrawal had started earlier than they had thought it would judged by their last experiences, so they had barely made it to Bobby’s before the younger Winchester had basically lost his mind.

“You have no idea -,” Gabriel started before he got cut off by the older Winchester.

“No, _you_ have no idea! Famine damn near got us all! He got Sam hooked on demon blood again!” Dean shouted loud enough so Castiel was alerted and came to stand by his side.

The archangel’s face paled after hearing that. They all had seemed to be okay - by far more okay than he had been, really - when he had left. He only had left to keep Sam safe, in the first place.

“Where is he?” Gabriel asked, though he had a pretty good idea about the answer, already. “In the panic room,” Castiel answered, because he thought that the older Winchester wouldn’t be inclined to give the archangel any information. The angel knew just how important this really was to Gabriel, though.

“But you won’t go anywhere near him!” Dean added to what his friend had just said in a definite tone. Really, if the archangel thought that he could just come and go as he pleased without ever facing the consequences, he was wrong.

“I’d like to see you trying to stop me,” Gabriel stated with a dangerous undertone to his voice.

Castiel pulled Dean aside forcefully so he wouldn’t stand in the archangel’s way. That could only end badly for all of them.

“He will do nothing to harm Sam,” the angel tried to reassure the older Winchester matter-of-factly.

Dean glared at his friend and clearly didn’t believe a word he was saying. Besides, Gabriel had already harmed Sam, even if he hadn’t done it directly.

“Gabriel loves your brother, Dean,” Castiel elaborated, which wiped the angry expression off Dean’s face for a moment. The angel wasn’t quite sure if the mixture of disbelieve and shock was that much better, though.

“If he does anything to hurt Sammy, I’ll test my holy oil Molotov cocktail theory on him!” the older Winchester pressed through gritted teeth. He really needed a stiff drink after hearing these news, though. Especially because there was more information he needed and he intended to get it from Cas, but not without some hunter’s helper.

“That seems like an appropriate response,” Castiel agreed completely seriously. Well, they were on the same page in this, at least.


	20. Chapter 20

** 20 **

 

Every fiber of Sam’s being screamed that he wasn’t going to survive this. Everything hurt, everything burned, everything in him screamed for just one drop of blood.

The rational part of his mind had been shut down completely hours ago. He didn’t even know what he was going through all of this for anymore. He couldn’t remember the expression on Dean’s face and how it had made him want to just get all the demon blood out of his system and never touch the stuff again. He couldn’t remember that his brother had promised things were going to be okay. He couldn’t even remember that he was at a safe place, the place that was the closest to a real home he’d ever had, really.

Sam’s entire world had narrowed down to the want for a drug he shouldn’t and wouldn’t want if he was in his right mind. As things were, however, only the craving remained and everything else went right out of the window.

The younger Winchester moaned pitifully when a relatively cool hand brushed his hair out of his face. They should just release him, everything else he could do on his own! Sam wasn’t able to say that out loud anymore, though. He had yelled himself completely hoarse earlier.

“Just sleep,” Gabriel whispered pressing two fingers against Sam’s forehead to force the human into unconsciousness, “I’ll be there when you wake up.”

To tell the truth, the archangel had been surprised that Dean hadn’t come after him to have a more in depth argument, but he was grateful for it all the same.

Castiel probably had a hand in that. Gabriel just hoped that the other angel hadn’t given the older Winchester any hopes that he would be able to just snap his fingers and make Sam’s problem disappear. As much as he wished it were so, he couldn’t. Not without risking to damage the younger Winchester’s mind greatly, anyway.

When Sam opened his eyes again he had no idea and no way of telling how much time had passed. He felt sore and feverish and his arms and legs hurt badly from being strapped to the bed he was lying on. A shiver racked his body, which made him moan quietly. Movement didn’t seem to be a good thing. Being immobile hurt badly as well, though.

Gentle fingers removed the restraints from his legs and a feeling of panic grabbed the younger Winchester. He knew that he had been in this situation before, he knew he had been released then and he knew that he had done unforgivable things afterward.

“No, don’t,” he begged weakly. He knew he wouldn’t be able to resist if they set him loose now. He knew he would go off the deep end again in no time.

“Shh, Sammy, you really think I can’t keep you in check?” Gabriel asked in a soothing tone and went on working on Sam’s restraints. He could have made them disappear or loosen themselves, but as things were he figured it would be better to do things the slow way.

The human hadn’t been sleeping very long and it had been a very fitful sleep, but it seemed to have gained him a little time of relative clarity, anyway.

“Gabriel,” Sam breathed and relaxed slightly. The archangel wouldn’t allow him to do anything bad, he was sure. He didn’t have to worry about getting a chance to get his hands on more demon blood. The younger Winchester felt a sharp stab of pain at that realization, but it soothed his mind a little all the same.

“The one and only,” Gabriel confirmed watching Sam’s body convulse with a wave of pain that didn’t come from any wound he could have healed. One of the four damn near almighty archangels of the Lord should never have to feel as helpless as he did, he was sure.

Once the younger man was able to move freely, he rolled to his side and curled in on himself. A rather muscular 6’4’’ guy should have no right to look quite this small and vulnerable, either.

Gabriel sat down on the bed next to Sam and started to pet his hair gently. There really wasn’t anything else he could have done. At least he could be in the same room as the younger Winchester was without being in danger. Dean and Castiel didn’t have that privilege. Not while the remaining demon blood could give Sam any kind of power boost at any time.

“’M sorry,” the younger Winchester mumbled in a very raspy voice, “I _am_ an abomination.”

Gabriel just stared at the other man for a moment and then readjusted his position so he was facing Sam. He brought both his hands to the younger Winchester’s cheeks and forced him to look into his direction, at least.

“Hey, you look at me, kiddo,” Gabriel insisted in a rather strict voice while his touch remained gentle, “You’re not an abomination. Hell, even if you were, you wouldn’t be the biggest abomination in this room. You hear me?”

Sam’s face scrunched up in either confusion or pain or both of these things and he apparently was thinking about objecting, but the archangel wouldn’t let him.

“It’s not your fault that the entire freaking universe chose you to be the butt-monkey in the story,” he stated definitely, gently stroking the other man’s cheek with his thumb, “I, on the other hand, ran from home like a coward and took the position of a pagan God of all things. You really think you can trump that?”

The try to bring some humor into the conversation was lost on the younger Winchester.

“And it’s not like Famine didn’t get to me, Sammy,” Gabriel added on an afterthought. It had taken him so long to realize what was going on that it was too late to do anything about it, even. In fact, the archangel had had to use every sigil, spell and restraint he had been able to come up with at short notice to even keep himself from going back to Sam and just molesting him or worse. He had taken a while to get out of his own prison once he had gained control over himself back again, in the end.

“But you…,” Sam tried to say something but was stopped when some painful coughs shook his body.

With some manhandling, Gabriel managed to get the human into a sitting position, even though he needed to be propped up by the archangel. Once Sam was leaning against him the angel made a cup of water appear and brought it to the other man’s lips.

“I’m sorry,” Gabriel apologized once he had the human lying on his back as comfortably as he could again, “I forced that kiss on you.”

This probably wasn’t the moment for apologies, because Sam most likely wasn’t able to progress it, anyway. The younger Winchester surprised the archangel once more, however.

“I liked it,” the human whispered, fixing his feverish gaze on the other man as much as he could, “’t was the only time when I didn’t think of the blood…”

Gabriel looked back at him a little amazed both by what he had just said and the clarity he had spoken with. Besides, knowing that he hadn’t forced himself on the younger Winchester was a relief and hearing that he had liked the kiss even gave him a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. That was nothing compared to what he felt when Sam spoke again, though.

“Would you do that for me again?” he requested softly.

In the name of everything holy, Gabriel knew that he probably shouldn’t give in to that, because Sam wasn’t exactly in his right mind and would do anything to get some relief for the pain. But who was he to deny him that, anyway?

The archangel fit himself against the human’s side so they would both be comfortable and brought one hand up to run his fingers through Sam’s hair. He leaned in to press his lips against Sam’s softly at first. There was only minimal pressure behind the kiss for the first few moments, but when the younger Winchester sighed, relieved Gabriel put some more heat into it.

This time the human’s hands came up to grasp at the archangel’s shoulders and he definitely was participating, even though his movements were a little uncoordinated. This was a completely different kind of want and need and he gladly gave himself over to the feelings.

Gabriel pulled back a little to get a better look at the more relaxed and somewhat content expression the other man wore. His lips were slightly parted and it took a couple of moments for his eyes to open half-way just to see what the archangel was doing.

“That what you had in mind?” Gabriel asked with a small smirk and leaned back in for another kiss when Sam nodded his agreement.

To be honest, the younger Winchester was beyond being able to speak at that point. He was so relieved to feel something other than pain and at the same time so tired, because the hurt was far enough at the back of his mind so he felt like he could let go and just sleep. Then again, he didn’t want to end the lazy kissing for anything. He would probably feel embarrassed for that thought later on, but as things were, he just wanted to hold on to the feeling of Gabriel’s gentle sucking and tugging at his lower lip alternating with slow, deep kisses.

Sam sighed deeply once more before his head just rolled to the side by itself.

“I don’t think I’ve ever kissed anyone to sleep before,” Gabriel mused to himself, slightly amused, but at the same time in dire need of a really cold shower. He’d have to just tough this one out, however. There was no way he would leave the younger Winchester’s side now!

 

* * *

 

 

Castiel had done his best to explain to Dean that Gabriel honestly just wanted to court his brother. At that particular wording the older Winchester’s eyebrows had shot up so high that it was a miracle they were still on his face.

The angel was certain that his brother meant Sam no harm whatsoever and he was sure that the younger Winchester wouldn’t be forced into anything he didn’t truly want. Convincing Dean of the same was impossible, though.

However, the older Winchester had grudgingly accepted that Gabriel was best equipped – another raised eyebrow at that wording – to help Sam get better as quickly as possible. Better than they were, anyway. It had helped a little that no distressed noises were coming from the panic room. Well, that fact had helped once Castiel had assured Dean that the two people that were meant to be inside hadn’t left the room.

If he was being honest, the bottle of whiskey he and Bobby had finished had helped with calming down a little the most, though.

The older Winchester still had a very restless night behind him when he decided to go and see how his little brother was doing with his own two eyes.

Of course, he wasn’t stupid about it and made sure that he was prepared for the possibility that something might have gone wrong at some point and Sam might try to fight him.

Dean held his breath when he opened the door and then released it quickly as his jaw dropped.

“I’ll be damned,” he muttered quietly to himself at the sight of his brother cozily wrapped in a blanket and curled up against the archangel.

Dean would have thrown a tantrum immediately, if not for two simple facts.

Both of the seemingly sleeping men were fully dressed and there was a blanket between them and it looked like they were very peacefully asleep.

“You wake him up now, Dean-o, I swear Dr. Sexy will be gay as a blackbird come the next season,” Gabriel threatened in a very hushed tone, however.

Sam was fast asleep and not disturbed by the quiet conversation, though. He only buried his face against the archangel’s chest more and huffed out a breath.

“You hurt him in any way, I don’t care how hard it is, I’ll find a way to kill you,” Dean gave his own threat back very quietly. Really, people had been playing with Sam and his feelings by far too much in the past years. There was absolutely no need to add another one.

He couldn’t get angry seeing how relaxed and at peace his younger brother looked, however.

“What now?” Dean asked the archangel reluctantly. He really wasn’t comfortable with asking the douchebag for his input, but that very moment he clearly had a better idea about Sam’s condition than anyone else.

“We’ll see how he’s doing once he wakes up,” Gabriel replied silently, affectionately brushing some hair out of the sleeping human’s face, “But he won’t be hunting any demons for a couple more days, at least.”

It probably wasn’t necessary to tell the older Winchester that they would have to keep Sam away from any demons until they could be absolutely sure that not a hint of demon blood was left in his system, but better safe than sorry.

“No shit, Sherlock,” Dean replied with a snort, “Douchebag angel.”

“Insolent monkey,” Gabriel shot back smirking slightly.

There was no love lost between the human and the archangel, but they could agree on wanting the best for Sam and that was all they needed for now.


	21. Chapter 21

** 21 **

 

It took three days before Sam stopped having rather violent fits of aggression and panic respectively. Dean and Bobby had both come to check on him a couple of times during his phases of clarity, but he had been too tired for lengthy talks, anyway. He got a couple of apologies out of the way, though. Gabriel rolled his eyes at him at every single one.

Yes, Sam knew that the archangel didn’t think any of this was his fault and that was nice to know, but he still felt like a few apologies had been needed.

They also had reached the understanding that the younger Winchester appreciated being in physical contact with Gabriel a lot, under the condition that they were alone. Both Bobby and Dean knew that something was going on between the two temporary inhabitants of the panic room and Sam honestly didn’t mind that whatever it was that he and Gabriel shared wasn’t a secret. He was rather sure that the rest of his family appreciated the limits he had put to the level of public display of affection, though.

The Winchester brothers had finally gotten the chance to talk privately for a couple of minutes the other day and Sam was pretty sure that it had been one of the most awkward talks in his entire life.

“So, uh, since when are you… you know?” Dean had asked while scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably. He had really been trying to show his brother that he was sort of okay with this, whatever this was exactly, and the younger Winchester appreciated that.

“I… don’t think I am,” Sam had replied equally awkwardly, “It’s only… Gabriel.”

As far as he could tell that was true, as well. There was no use denying that he was into the archangel at this point, but he couldn’t and didn’t want to imagine doing anything with any other man.

Both brothers had been rather relieved when Gabriel had returned and insisted that Sam needed all the rest he could get. This had been the first time that Dean had gladly done what the archangel had told him to do, too.

All this still felt dangerously close to their experiences with Ruby to the older Winchester, but he had to admit that his brother had never seemed this content with the demon around. Besides, Gabriel was getting Sam off the blood instead of getting him addicted to it, which counted for a lot in Dean’s book.

On the fourth day, Sam woke up to find that he was alone in the room, which was something that very rarely happened. Sure, he was mostly in control of himself again, so there was no reason for him to be under surveillance all the time. But, he had gotten used to having the other man around.

“Morning, Sasquatch, are you ready to return to the real world?” Gabriel asked cheerfully as soon as he had appeared back at the younger Winchester’s side. He was quite determined to keep Sam away from any hunts for another while, but there was no use keeping him locked up in the panic room any longer.

“Yeah, I guess,” Sam replied with a short smile and stood up from the bed, “Where were you off to, anyway?”

“Cold shower,” Gabriel replied distractedly as he watched the younger Winchester stretch.

The human looked slightly confused and apparently was about to ask something, but the archangel simply shot him a pointed look, after which Sam’s face lit up with realization and then embarrassment. Gabriel simply had to laugh at that and was hit with a pillow for it.

“Come on, Sammybear, there are people that want to see you,” the archangel stated still chuckling. He moved closer to brush his lips against the younger Winchester’s for a moment, just feeling happy that he could do this without having to prepare for the possibility that the other man might freak out. That wouldn’t get old anytime soon.

“None of this when the others are around,” Sam reminded him in a soft tone, stroking Gabriel’s cheek for a moment.

“But, Sammybear…” the archangel began to object before he was promptly interrupted.

“No _Sammybear_ , either,” the younger Winchester insisted. Really, he didn’t mind the stupid nickname, not too much, anyway. But he didn’t want Dean or any of the others to hear it.

“Aww,” Gabriel pouted just for the principle of it, but he vowed to himself to at least _try to try_ to be good. He had nothing to gain by annoying Sam, so he should have enough motivation to play by the rules.

They were just walking up the stairs when the younger Winchester heard something that surprised him to say the least.

“But mom!” Jo whined insistently, but it was quite apparent that she didn’t think she had any chances to change her mother’s mind, anyway.

“No, Jo, you put your ass down and your ankle up and stop complaining!” Ellen replied in a tone that didn’t allow any further objections.

Sam smiled at hearing their voices but slowed his pace down, anyway. He loved Ellen and Jo, but them being here now meant that they would have heard about recent developments, especially about his relapse. He still minded the prospect about having to say something like ‘Yes, I have this big, fat, gay crush on an archangel’ less than the part about a resurfacing demon blood addiction, though.

“Y’know, you could just have called the arch-douche upstairs for a minute earlier,” Dean commented in a slightly amused tone.

At hearing that, Sam frowned and Gabriel just shrugged. It wasn’t like he knew what the older Winchester had just been talking about. To tell the truth, he hadn’t been paying attention to anything other than Sam lately. Right, the world around them hadn’t exactly stopped. He probably had some catching up to do.

“Having to deal with this a little while longer might be a nice lesson about keeping an eye on your surroundings at all times,” Ellen replied in a stern tone that held concern as well, though.

“That thing came out of freaking nowhere!” Jo objected immediately and then hissed in pain.

“Stomping your foot isn’t a great idea right now, is it?” Dean asked innocently and apparently got something thrown into his direction for it.

When Sam finally got close enough to see what was going on he understood what all this was about immediately. Jo must have hurt her foot on their last hunt and was walking on crutches.

They really should have just told Gabriel about that earlier. It wasn’t like the archangel had needed to stay close to Sam at all times and clearly Jo’s injury would have been important enough to warrant a call.

“Hey there, you want help with that?” the archangel asked casually, pointing at the younger woman’s foot.

“You expect me to ask for it very nicely?” Jo asked with a hint of sarcasm, but she really was hoping for a quick and painless recovery. Hell, if she had to beg for that, she probably would only to stop her mother from giving her those worried looks.

“Nah,” the archangel replied putting a hand on Jo’s shoulder, “It works if you just thank me profusely.”

He’d take the small smile the exchange had just put on Sam’s face as payment as well, however.

“Thank you,” Jo said definitely gratefully as she got to put the crutches away into a corner. Having to use them to get around had been more annoying than the pain, really.

“You don’t really know what _profusely_ means, do you?” Gabriel couldn’t help asking and got a gentle pat on the back of his head from his most favorite human.

Jo just shook her head amusedly, her eyes moving from Sam to the archangel and back again. Apparently, she was about to ask something, but wasn’t quite sure how to approach the subject. The younger Winchester already started to feel embarrassed.

“How are you doing, Sam?” Ellen finally asked, giving the young man a short but tight hug. They had only heard about what had happened when they had arrived at Bobby’s in the morning, but that had given her enough time to get worried, anyway. “You look well rested, at least,” she added after a moment of consideration.

“I didn’t do much but sleep and throw tantrums the past few days,” Sam shrugged, ducking his head slightly. He was quite sure that Dean had wanted to make a joke about other activities but had thought better of it. He took a moment to try and figure out if his older brother would be sort of disappointed or relieved to hear that nothing much had happened, though. Come on, Sam had been out of it for a big junk of the time, which hadn’t exactly put him in the mood to experiment!

“I’m good now, though,” he finished with a short but genuine smile.

Next to Sam, Gabriel suddenly looked rather distracted. He pulled a face for a moment, before he disappeared into thin air within the blink of an eye.

“What was that?” Jo asked with an uncertain expression.

Nobody even got the chance to try and find an answer before Gabriel appeared again with another angel in tow.

“… not answer for days!” Caliel ranted on, not bothered by the fact that they had changed locations in the meantime, “I’m not risking my neck so you can ignore me!”

Gabriel looked back at her apologetically which he seemed to do a lot whenever he didn’t have any good reasons for doing or not doing something.

“Ellen, Jo, that’s Callie, she’s Gabriel’s biggest fan and supporter,” Dean told the two Harvelles with a half-amused smirk. He didn’t particularly like having one of the people he deemed most likely to betray them around again, but at the same time he could enjoy watching the archangel getting a dressing down.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Gabriel apologized in a tone that was very far from being actually apologetic, “Did you have something to tell us?”

Caliel huffed out a breath, but regained her composure and changed her demeanor to strictly business-like.

“There are a handful of angels willing to listen to your plan. Not many, but more than I expected, really,” she told the archangel as well as the humans around, “However, there is someone who wants to meet with Dean and Sam as soon as possible. She says she has had to do with them before.”

Gabriel was about to shoot the idea down when the older Winchester asked, “Anna?”

She was the only female angel they had had to do with and who they might ever meet up with again voluntarily, after all.

“Anna, yes,” the angel confirmed, “She only just got out of solitary confinement.”

That was the part that Caliel completely believed. The other angel had surely looked and acted the part to a T.

“Well, that’s good, go get her,” Dean stated with a shrug. His younger brother nodded his agreement. Anna had risked everything for one of their plans before and she surely was one of the angels that were fonder of humanity than most.

“Hold your horses, Dean-o,” Gabriel said thoughtfully, “Nobody gets out of that sort of prison the same person they went in. How did she get out, anyway?”

He was pretty sure he knew how she had gotten in, now that he knew that she had worked with the Winchesters before. Not that he automatically thought that they were to blame, but heaven sure didn’t like anyone helping them.

“She says it was a jail break,” Caliel answered and, after seeing the archangel’s doubting expression, quickly added, “I know, I know, but she seemed trustworthy. She wants to help stop the Apocalypse.”

That was more than good enough for Dean and he shot the archangel a pointed look.

“As I said, go get her. Anna’s a friend,” he said emphatically. They were already having a team meeting, so they might as well add another angel to it.

Gabriel just shrugged. Everybody else had seen Anna much more recently than he had, so they should have a better idea about just how trustworthy she was. The angel he remembered had been one of the good kind, anyway.

“As you wish,” Caliel shrugged casually, “I’ll be back.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Ellen asked with a deep frown. She didn’t know the angel they had been talking about, but the good thing about this was that she had been able to listen to the arguments from the viewpoint of a neutral outsider.

“Oh, no worries, Dean _knows_ her,” Sam couldn’t help replying with a small smirk. Yes, he could admit that the archangel probably had some sort of bad influence on him.

“That’s rich, let Dean-o get his hands on one of your sisters and things get biblical,” Gabriel quipped with a chuckle.

“Like you should be the one to talk,” Dean shot back with a snort and then promptly pulled a face as rather unwanted pictures popped into his head.

Ellen and Jo silently exchanged looks. The guys really were a bunch of overgrown kindergarteners, sometimes. It was a miracle that Bobby managed to put up with them as regularly as he did.


	22. Chapter 22

** 22 **

 

“It’s good to see you, Anna,” Dean greeted the newly arrived angel warmly.

Bobby’s living room was getting slightly packed with three angels and five humans present, but apparently Gabriel didn’t mind moving closer to Sam to make room for the others at all. Actually, if he had had his way, he would have shared the younger Winchester’s seat altogether. Too bad that nobody else liked the idea too much.

“Likewise,” Anna replied with a small, tired smile. Well, if she had broken out of angel prison, she wouldn’t have had much time to rest and the time before escaping surely hadn’t been a piece of cake, either.

“Why did you want to see us?” Sam asked, trying to get a little distance between himself and Gabriel to keep the archangel from actually climbing into his lap. He still had this crazy idea about limiting the public display of affection, however.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Anna sighed, “Maybe everyone else can just act like everything is normal and wait for your call in heaven, I can’t.”

Yes, thinking about it, that should have been pretty obvious. All the other angels that had chosen to give their team a chance were in danger of being found out if they weren’t being careful, but all the wrong people must already be looking for Anna.

“Means you’ll stay here with us,” Dean summed the situation up with a casual shrug.

Bobby cleared his throat pointedly. It wasn’t that one more angel would make much of a difference, but this was still his house, dammit, and he would appreciate being asked for his consent before he got another house-guest.

“Fine,” he agreed after a moment, anyway. They really could use all the help they would get, so he wasn’t going to send a helper away.

“Cas will be happy to see you, too,” Dean added and then frowned deeply when Anna winced slightly. The others hadn’t missed the gesture, either.

“I get the unexplainable feeling that you might have a slight problem with Castiel,” Gabriel commented, pointing the lollipop he had been sucking on toward the other angel, “Care to share with the class?”

If she didn’t, they would have to find another way to find out what this had been all about. Really, the archangel wouldn’t let all this go to hell, quite literally, because two more of his siblings couldn’t get along.

“It figures that he wouldn’t have told you,” Anna sighed and looked at the floor not meeting any of their questioning looks, “How do you think I got captured in the first place?”

The silence that fell was nearly deafening. Even the two Harvelles who didn’t know Castiel as well as the rest of them did couldn’t quite believe it.

“No way,” Dean spoke first. Sure, he liked Anna and he had been all for getting her onboard, but he knew Cas better and if he had to choose whom he trusted more, there was no question who would win.

“He had his reasons, I am sure,” Anna replied diplomatically.

That was exactly what Ellen had been thinking about, already. Granted, all the others seemed pretty sure that Castiel had been wrong about turning Anna in, but maybe he had had really good reasons. She decided to keep a close eye on the new angel, just in case.

“Yeah, he can tell us about that once he comes back,” Dean stated. They all would definitely have to talk about this, but as things were, they wouldn’t be able to get a clear picture.

“Poor Cassy still hasn’t lost his hopes about some interference from daddy,” Gabriel explained with a sarcastic undertone. He thought the other angel was just wasting his time, but Castiel could not be deterred. Maybe that was admirable, or – more likely – very stupid. If God didn’t want to be found, he wouldn’t be found and if he had wanted to be found, someone would have found him already.

“I hadn’t thought you had lost your belief in our father so completely,” Caliel spoke up for the first time in a while. She hadn’t seen a need to comment. As she saw it, she was supposed to run errands and she had done exactly that. This didn’t mean she didn’t question anything, but she could not work with someone like Gabriel, if she started to question things too much.

“Oh please, it’s pretty hard not to believe in the guy that created you,” the archangel shrugged casually, “I just don’t think he’ll lift a finger to help us out.”

“So, we’ll just have to help ourselves,” Dean stated pretty much immediately. It wasn’t like they had been counting on God, anyway.

 

* * *

 

 

They spent the next few hours discussing their strategies. They already had two of the Horsemen’s rings which were the good news; they had no idea where the other two Horsemen even where which was the bad news, but then again, they would barely be able to, or want to stay hidden forever.

There also were a couple of other possible hunts. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between Gabriel and Dean that they would keep Sam away from those, however. Ellen and Jo on the other hand said they could take on the most urgent one. Both women would leave in the morning, after they had gotten some more information on the case.

Dean had left Castiel another message, saying the angel should check in with them as soon as possible, or in his words, “Cas, get your feathery ass to Bobby’s soon as you get this message!”.

Anna had excused herself to finally get some much needed rest. She wasn’t much better off than Castiel, power-wise. They had been running on fumes for a while.

It hadn’t surprised anyone that Caliel had left as soon as they had stopped discussing the Apocalypse. Dean really couldn’t say that he trusted the angel, but that might be mostly due to the fact that Gabriel did. He wasn’t going to start trusting the archangel’s judgment unconditionally or even easily anytime soon. Besides, if Sam was willing to take everything Gabriel said at face value, Dean thought it couldn’t hurt to be extra suspicious just to make sure they didn’t miss anything.

Since they all were pretty much doing what they wanted to at this point, Gabriel took a short walk to Bobby’s kitchen to take a look at the content of the fridge. Sure, he could conjure up pretty much anything he wanted, but that wouldn’t have told him what Bobby had in his fridge, so the argument was invalid.

Maybe he had just wanted to get away from the others and had hoped that Sam would follow him, though.

The tall human was pretty predictable. It didn’t take a minute until he was standing near the archangel, giving him a measuring look.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked in a slightly worried voice. The archangel had been rather silent, for his standards anyway, in the past few hours. Ever since they had talked about Castiel’s search for God, in fact. The younger Winchester had meant to ask sooner, but he just hadn’t gotten an opportunity.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Gabriel replied with a curiously raised eyebrow.

“The way you talked about God earlier –,“ Sam began to talk, but he didn’t get to even finish his sentence, which let him understand that Gabriel’s following statement was at least partly a lie, but also that he didn’t want to talk about it.

“Sammy, I’m a grown-up, I don’t need my daddy to care for me,” the archangel interrupted with a casual shrug.

“Talking of need, though…” he trailed off and moved closer to the younger Winchester.

Sam shook his head affectionately but leaned in when Gabriel put a hand against his neck to pull him closer. Yes, the archangel was probably just distracting either himself or Sam or both of them from the topic, but he was highly successful with it, so that the younger Winchester didn’t find it in himself to call him out on it.

After a couple of moments Sam pulled away a little, however.

“We’re in Bobby’s kitchen,” he mumbled, letting his head fall back against the wall. If his mind hadn’t been preoccupied with other things, he would have wondered how his back had gotten pressed up against the wall in the first place. As things were, he had a pretty good idea how he hadn’t noticed being moved.

“Great observation skills there, Sammybear,” Gabriel grinned against the taller man’s neck. He took his chance to get his lips back against the younger Winchester’s when the other man gave him a slightly annoyed look.

Naturally, Sam gave in basically immediately and just went with the fast pace the archangel was setting. He couldn’t point his finger to what exactly Gabriel was doing that made him feel like he was made from nothing but jell-o, but he found it hard to care about such questions when the archangel was using one of his hands to angle the younger Winchester’s head to his liking and the other to stroke over his side.

“Bo… Bobby’s kitchen,” Sam stammered and stifled a groan when the archangel moved one of his legs between the younger Winchester’s and pressed up against him. He did nothing else to stop him, however.

They both knew that Sam would only be willing to go along with anything as long as Gabriel didn’t push him too far too fast, but it seemed the archangel had a pretty good idea just how hard he could push before the younger Winchester would react forcefully. It probably helped that he had deliberately found ways to push all the wrong buttons in the other man in the past. As absurd as that might sound, but it had given him a pretty good idea about how he could avoid forcing Sam over the edge and into defensiveness and anger.

“Which part is the problem?” Gabriel asked a definite smirk in his voice. He didn’t move away from the other man, but he stopped moving to allow his partner to pull his thoughts together, even though he already knew that that meant the end of their little make-out session.

“Right now, the part where it’s Bobby’s,” the younger Winchester replied. A part of him really didn’t want to stop this, but the part that said that it was wrong and that somebody could walk in on them any second was stronger.

“You’re such a killjoy sometimes,” Gabriel stated fondly, though. He let up on the pressure but still leaned against Sam and continued to nibble on his neck, more innocently, though.

“I really need to go and talk to a couple of the gods,” the archangel said against the younger Winchester’s neck, mainly to remind himself of the fact that he had something he needed to do. Despite the words Caliel liked to throw at his head, she had always been a bit of a boot-licker when it came to him, but she had been seriously annoyed with him for just going off the radar. He figured the pagan gods would be less forgiving if he didn’t let them know that he still wanted that meeting to happen.

“Right, you’d better go then,” Sam replied, removing one of his hands from the archangel’s waist to run his fingers through his own hair in a vain attempt to get himself to calm down.

“After I take _another_ really cold shower,” Gabriel grinned teasingly before he pressed his palm against the younger Winchester’s crotch without warning, “Looks like you need one, too.”

The archangel definitely thought that this was much funnier than Sam did, especially since this was the exact moment when Jo walked into the kitchen. The younger Winchester suspected that he would die from embarrassment, if that was possible.

“Uh… Dean wants to talk to you,” Jo stated, pointedly looking at a spot on the wall next to Sam.

“I was just leaving, anyway,” Gabriel chuckled before he leaned closer to Sam once more and whispered, “Just so we’re on the same page, taking care of my not so little problem while thinking of you is okay, right?”

After all, the human hadn’t been taken with the idea of the archangel relieving some stress with an authentic Sammy-dummy he could have created.

If the younger Winchester’s head hadn’t been beet-red before, it was now. He nodded dumbly in case the archangel had seriously been asking for his input, though.

“See you later,” Gabriel smiled and gave the other man a short peck to the cheek before he vanished.

Looking back toward Jo, the younger Winchester cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck embarrassedly, but he couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Real cute, Sam,” the younger Harvelle commented with barely contained laughter, finally.

“I’d like to see you trying to keep Gabriel from doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants,” Sam shot back as they left the kitchen together.

“Yeah, looked like you were trying _real_ hard, too,” Jo challenged with a raised eyebrow.

The younger Winchester didn’t say anything to that. It was true and if the setting had been different he wasn’t quite sure what would have happened. Well, he could imagine what would have happened, but he thought it would be better not to get into that little fantasy.

“Why did that take so long?” Dean asked with a small frown. He had Castiel standing next to him, so that was probably why he had wanted Sam to come back, as well.

Before the younger Winchester could answer Dean’s eyebrows shot up, though.

“Is that a hickey?”


	23. Chapter 23

** 23 **

 

Castiel admitted that he had done the wrong thing when he had turned Anna in. He still didn’t like having her around, however. It seemed like too big a risk to him, but he couldn’t make the humans, especially Dean, see his point. Maybe, he would have stood a chance, if he had been present when they had first discussed the possibility of getting Anna onboard.

As things were, he would just have to make sure that she didn’t get a chance to betray them.

Furthermore, it was troublesome that neither Death nor Pestilence had made a move, yet. There had been nothing pointing to Death ever since Lucifer had raised him, destroying the entire town of Carthage in the process. Pestilence hadn’t made an appearance at all, this far.

There were a few signs Bobby had been able to detect, but none of them were conclusive.

“Man, you look beat,” Dean told his brother with a small, worried frown, “Look, it’s not like there’s a lot going on, so you just go get some shut eye and we’ll tell you when something comes up.”

“I’m good,” Sam insisted, even though he really was getting tired. He wasn’t going to admit that and give Dean a reason to really send him to bed, though. The younger Winchester felt that he had missed enough during his forced time-out. Even if they weren’t getting anywhere, he wouldn’t just leave the others to it now.

“There are ways to summon Death,” Castiel said thoughtfully, after a moment, “But there is no way to hide the summoning from Lucifer. Not when he has Death on a leash.”

Having a pissed off devil on their hands on top of having to somehow get a ring off the finger of Death personified didn’t sound like something they should be going for. At least not as long as there might be other options.

“Okay, we’ll keep that in mind as the last possible option,” Bobby stated with a curt nod. If they could get their hands on Pestilence’s ring beforehand, maybe summoning Death and thereby alerting the devil to what they were doing wouldn’t sound quite that insane anymore. It was more likely that it would still sound completely insane, but they would do it, anyway. You couldn’t be a hunter for as long as Bobby had without getting used to doing things everybody else would call completely insane.

Sam rubbed his temples with a silent sigh. All that sounded so promising that he got a severe headache from it. He wondered if they would ever get to a point where he could honestly believe that there was a way to defeat Lucifer that wouldn’t kill them all.

“Dude, seriously,” Dean commented, shaking his head at his younger brother, “I’m going to help Ellen and Jo figure out what exactly they’ll be up against, it’s not like you’ll miss something.”

His brother was probably right, but Sam didn’t think it was a good idea to allow the others to go on handling him with kid’s gloves. He really wanted them to just go back to business as usual and that would never happen, if they didn’t see that he was completely okay again. Besides, the younger Winchester might not be up to his usual physical form completely, but it wasn’t like he needed to be coddled.

“Will you shut up about this, if I go and catch some fresh air?” Sam asked, making sure that his brother understood that this was the only option that was up for discussion.

“Whatever,” Dean replied with a casual shrug, “Seems it takes an archangel to get you into bed, these days.”

Both brothers cringed at that innuendo in the end, however. Apparently, Dean couldn’t quite help saying things like that, even though the implications made him shudder just as much as they were embarrassing his brother.

Sam really could use some fresh air after that.

He sighed deeply once he stepped outside into the cold night and just closed his eyes for a couple of moments. Damn, the past few days really had been hard on his body and mind, even though Gabriel had done his very best to make sure he was okay. Well, Sam was more than okay, all things considered. The residual exhaustion was nothing, really.

His feet led him through the rows of old cars. He knew the salvage yard nearly like the back of his hand after years of being there more or less regularly.

Sometimes, Sam wondered if he and Dean might ever end up like Bobby. With a home base and, in the best case scenario, hunting as a part-time job more than the only thing they ever did. He usually pushed those thought aside as quickly as they came, though. Chances were they wouldn’t reach an age anywhere close to Bobby’s. Not if their typical Winchester-luck lasted.

Great, a couple of weeks around the archangel and he already started to crave sweets when he was getting into a brooding mood. He knew for a fact that the association between food and brooding hadn’t been there before Gabriel had shown up.

“Anna,” Sam addressed the woman standing in front of him suddenly. Yes, she had surprised him, but with Castiel and Gabriel popping in and out as they pleased whenever they pleased, they all had gotten sort of used to people just appearing out of thin air.

“I am sorry, Sam,” Anna apologized, sounding genuine and troubled, which immediately had the younger Winchester on edge.

“What for?” Sam asked, keeping the distance they had between them and eyeing the angel warily. This could barely be good. He debated, trying to run away or alert the others, but Anna, weakened as she might be, was still an angel.

Then again, maybe he was just being paranoid, but he knew that he was most surely just kidding himself there.

“We cannot allow Lucifer to win this war, but you won’t be able to resist him,” the angel spoke with so much conviction that it gave a very painful sting to Sam’s self-confidence. If there had been any pretense before, it had been dropped when Anna pulled out her knife.

“You won’t get away with this,” the younger Winchester tried to reason with the angel, but he was pretty sure that any logical arguments would be lost on her, anyway.

“Doesn’t matter,” Anna replied calmly, “If we both have to die for this, so be it.”

“Anna, listen, it’s completely pointless! They’ll only bring me back!” Sam tried another approach. That she wouldn’t mind to die didn’t mean she wouldn’t mind to die for nothing. If something simple like Sam’s death could have stopped Lucifer he would probably have done the deed himself months ago. Hell, he’d be lying if he said that he had never thought about testing Abaddon’s theory on what the Colt would do to a human soul on himself. But first of all, he hadn’t been given the opportunity and Sam didn’t really have the urgent wish to die at his own hand, either.

“Not if I do this right and scatter your molecules all over the Universe, they won’t,” Anna insisted, looking at the younger Winchester as if she honestly expected him to see her point. As little as Sam liked it, a part of him did, too. If she was right, a not too small part of him would be willing to pay the price.

“Sam, duck!” Ellen yelled before she fired her shotgun at Anna. She knew that this wouldn’t kill the angel, but she only had to distract her and alert everyone else, really. A shotgun going off in the middle of the night should do the job.

It was pure luck that Ellen had had a bad feeling about Sam being outside on his own and had decided to check on him. What the older Harvelle didn’t know was that she had just saved Sam from his own mind at least as much as from Anna.

The younger Winchester didn’t get far before the angel caught up with him, of course. Anna was raising her knife and Sam watched in morbid fascination as it came closer to deliver what he was sure would be a killing blow, but then was gripped by the shoulders and thrown backward none too gently. His back collided with one of the old cars on the salvage yard painfully. Apparently, Castiel had gone a little overboard with the strength he had used to get him away from Anna, not that Sam was complaining.

Ellen was at the younger Winchester’s side just moments before the others came running out of the house and toward them.

“Are you okay?” the older Harvelle asked, offering her assistance to get the slightly dazed younger man to move away from the two fighting angels.

Dean was at his other side before Sam could have said anything, but the collision with the car had knocked the wind out of him pretty effectively, anyway.

“What the hell is going on?” the older Winchester demanded, once they weren’t in all too close proximity to Castiel and Anna anymore.

“Anna,” Sam wheezed the beginning of an answer, but he couldn’t get enough air to talk into his lungs, yet.

“Care to elaborate?” Dean asked. The completely not amused bitch-face his brother shot him at that wasn’t exactly uncalled for, he had to admit.

The two angels were rather evenly matched, as things were. Both Castiel and Anna were cut off from heaven and both of them were good fighters, but they were both getting tired rather quickly as they circled and attacked each other. It looked like it would come down to which one of them would be able to keep the last bit of their strength the longest when Anna got a chance to kick Castiel’s feet away from under him. She was on him within the blink of an eye and would have brought her blade down for the killing blow if Dean hadn’t aimed quickly and shot her straight through the shoulder with the Colt.

It was quite lucky that he had taken to carrying the gun around at most times after it had become clear that they would have to work with all kinds of beings he didn’t trust and that would only be slightly annoyed by an ordinary gun.

Anna fell back and didn’t stir as Dean moved closer and offered Castiel a hand to help him up. He could see that she was still breathing, though. A part of him was relieved that he hadn’t just killed a woman that had meant something to him at one point and that he had considered a friend until very recently, but another part of him knew that it would have spared them from having to make a decision, if he had just killed her straight away.

 

 

* * *

 

“Do you think -,” Sam began a question before he was interrupted by his brother.

“No,” Dean replied definitely and clearly indicating that he wouldn’t hear any more on the topic. It was quite clear to him what his brother had been about to ask. Did Dean think that Anna had been right and that they could stop Lucifer by destroying his vessel so completely he could never be brought back? He thought that there might be some truth in that, but he wouldn’t let Sam know about it under any circumstances.

They had brought Anna back to the house and had trapped her in a circle of holy fire in the panic room. Castiel had assured Bobby that this didn’t put his entire freaking house in danger of burning down and that it clearly was the better option than having a woman standing in a ring of fire in the backyard. Especially since she was likely to be enraged once she regained consciousness.

“Taking you out of the equation would only deter Lucifer’s plans for a very short period of time,” Castiel commented. It sounded like the angel had given the topic some thought. If that had been before or after Anna had brought it up, they would never know.

“Also, we’re not discussing this!” Dean added to make sure that the conversation would stop there. He was pretty sure that he knew what was going on in Sam’s always too busy mind and he wouldn’t let his brother even consider the option.

The younger Winchester didn’t say that maybe time would be what they would need in the end. There was nobody around who might appreciate hearing it and he was feeling too tired for a serious argument at this point.

“What are we going to do with her, now?” Sam asked instead, nodding towards Anna. They could barely keep her trapped forever, but at the same time killing her seemed just wrong to him. After all, it seemed likely that Anna had undergone some sort of torture or brainwashing, even.

“We’ll figure something out in the morning,” Dean answered tiredly. The others had already retired for the night and he really thought it was about time that they did the same.

“I will watch her,” Castiel informed them. He still didn’t need to sleep and he didn’t mind the prospect of spending the night in the panic room quietly. It didn’t look like Anna would be waking up anytime soon, anyway.

“Alright, yeah, you do that,” Dean nodded his consent, but just as the brothers were about to leave he thought of something and turned back to his angelic friend, “Do me a favor and don’t just stand there quietly, though. Sit down and read or something, at least!”

Castiel didn’t quite understand the importance of the request, but nodded his consent, anyway.


	24. Chapter 24

** 24 **

 

“Can’t leave you alone even for a few hours,” Gabriel said in a reprimanding tone, though he kept up the light petting of Sam’s hair with which he had woken the younger Winchester from his sleep.

When Gabriel had come back from the little meeting with the pagan side of his family he had been greeted with the great news of what had happened while he had been gone by Castiel. For some reason the angel had been sitting on a chair in the corner with a lexicon in his lap, but the archangel hadn’t really thought about questioning that after seeing Anna in the ring of holy fire. Castiel had been quick to assure him that nobody other than the female angel had been harmed, but that hadn’t really done much to calm Gabriel down. He barely ever got really angry, but hearing that he had come very close to losing his human made his temper flare up immediately.

Anna had been pretty lucky that the ring of holy fire kept him from doing something very rash.

It had taken a while, and a heated argument with Caliel about the people she deemed trustworthy, before Gabriel had been calm enough to face Sam. Seeing the tall human asleep on a couch that wasn’t quite long enough to accommodate him had brought the smile back to his lips, finally.

The younger Winchester blinked a couple of times before he fixed his gaze on the archangel and smiled lazily. He was still more asleep than awake, but he was glad to see the other man, all the same.

Before Gabriel could say or do anything else Sam had one arm wrapped around his middle and the other at the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

“Welcome back,” the younger Winchester mumbled against the archangel’s hair, once he had successfully manhandled the other man so he was lying next to him on the too small couch. Full body contact was pretty much a given under the circumstances, but it wasn’t like either one of them minded.

“I think I should leave more often, if that’s how you’re going to greet me,” Gabriel smirked and got a gentle push against his shoulder for it. It might have been enough to throw him off the couch, if Sam hadn’t been holding him close still.

“Someone told you what happened,” the younger Winchester stated after a moment. He didn’t need to ask after the way the archangel had greeted him earlier. Well, he preferred that to having to tell him the entire story himself, anyway.

“Cassy did,” Gabriel agreed, “He’s reading a lexicon for some reason, by the way.”

Sam chuckled quietly at that. It figured that Castiel would take Dean’s request very seriously, even if he didn’t understand it completely, apparently. The younger Winchester really didn’t think that a lexicon had been what Dean had had in mind. Then again, it wasn’t like Bobby would have had the newest edition of Busty Asian Beauties, or whatever the older Winchester would deem suitable entertainment, just lying around the panic room.

“You’d tell me if you weren’t completely okay, right?” Gabriel asked, leaning in for a quick peck to the other man’s lips. He would have been able to tell if the younger Winchester had any injuries, but not every wound was physical and he just wanted to let the human know that he was worried.

“Sure, but I’m good, I promise. Ellen distracted Anna with a shotgun blast just in time,” Sam replied with a small smile, “And then Castiel gripped me tight and threw me against a car. It was better than the alternative, though.”

How often did you get to say something like that? Well, with the way their lives went, Sam got to say crazier things quite frequently.

“Castiel mentioned that you seemed to be thinking about Anna’s crazy, stupid, insane and completely useless plan more than you should,” Gabriel mentioned casually after a few moments of consideration. If Castiel had thought it was important enough to be brought up, the archangel supposed he should at least not completely disregard the information. Especially not looking at what it was about.

Sam took a moment to wonder when exactly he had gotten good enough at reading Gabriel to know when he was putting up a façade, but then he answered quickly, “Look, it’s not something I want to happen, but can you blame me for thinking about it?”

In the end, if it came down to Sam or the world, he’d choose the world any day. Especially since the world contained everyone who meant something to him. He couldn’t imagine anything worse than having to watch Lucifer use his body to kill every single person he had ever known and loved.

“Yes, yes, I can,” Gabriel replied resolutely. He moved them so he was basically straddling the younger man, which – thinking about it – had been a bad move on his side. In this position he would barely be able to concentrate on talking for long, it was making poking Sam in the chest forcefully easier, though.

“You don’t get to contemplate suicide or assisted suicide, you hear me?” the archangel stated with vigor, “And I swear to everything holy, if you even think about asking me –“

Sam leaned forward to shush him with a kiss before he could finish the threat. To tell the truth, the younger Winchester had thought about asking the archangel to just scatter his molecules all over the Universe – as Anna had put it – if they got to a point where all hopes of beating Lucifer were lost, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to voice that request before he absolutely had to.

“It’s not that I can’t live without you, mind you,” Gabriel stated absentmindedly as he let his fingers draw little symbols all over Sam’s chest, “I just don’t want to.”

The younger Winchester let his head drop back to the couch and looked up to the man sitting above him. This, right there, felt like a pretty big confession, but he didn’t quite know what to say to it.

“Gee, Sasquatch, it’s not like I expected you to confess your undying love, or something,” Gabriel joked, before he leaned down and pressed his hips against Sam’s in the process, “I’m fine with physical attraction, as well.”

That was something the younger Winchester didn’t want to leave hanging between them like that. He would be lying if he denied that he had rather strong physical reactions to the things the archangel seemed to love doing to him – hell, he couldn’t have successfully denied having said physical reactions with the way Gabriel was pressed up against him, anyway – but that was by no means all there was.

“That’s not -,” Sam gulped and tried to give the archangel a reprimanding look, “Could you stop doing that and let me think for a moment?”

The younger Winchester honestly didn’t know how anybody could be expected to have even one clear thought in their mind, when they had someone writhing in their lap like Gabriel was doing to him. The archangel was taking mercy on the human’s poor, overly stimulated body and just looked at him curiously, in the end.

“I haven’t had one seriously gay thought in my life, Gabriel. It’s not your body that changed that,” Sam finally managed to say rather breathlessly.

The archangel’s grin looked too big to even fit on his face. “I’m a little disappointed. I always thought I had a pretty sweet ass, personally,” he mused teasingly, wriggling said body part and forcing a stifled groan from the man underneath him.

“Do you ha-have to be like this when I’m trying to-ooh…” Sam trailed off and pretty much gave up trying to talk after that. He thought he had gotten his point across, anyway. Maybe that was all he could ask for with an easily distracted person like Gabriel.

“Love you too, Sammybear,” the archangel whispered into the human’s ear once he was satisfied with how hot and bothered he had managed to get the other man.

This was, hands down, the best day he had had in a very long time and no, he wouldn’t change his opinion only because the younger Harvelle managed to walk in on them, yet again.

“We’re lea… ving…” Jo started but then trailed off as soon as she realized what she was seeing and immediately turned around to leave again.

“I’m starting to think she does that on purpose,” Gabriel mused as he climbed off the younger Winchester. There was no doubt that this was the moment when they had to get back to business. Oh well, postponed was not abandoned.

 

* * *

 

 

After Sam had thanked Ellen for basically saving his life the other night again, the Harvelle’s took their leave. They were pretty sure that ghouls were involved in their newest hunt and didn’t want to give the bastards the chance to find new victims.

Castiel put the lexicon aside when the other four men entered the panic room. Anna had woken up some time ago, but she hadn’t been willing to talk, so he had gone on reading instead.

“Good read?” Dean asked the angel with an amused smile. He probably should have been more specific and told Castiel to look for something fun to do. Then again, knowing Cas, he might have chosen the exact same reading material.

“Most of the facts were accurate. I only got as far as ‘viability’, however,” the angel replied in his typical serious voice.

Dean vowed to make sure Castiel got some reading material about something he didn’t know already next time. A Miss Manners book came to mind, or some good old Busty Asian Beauties. Thinking about it, he’d just go with the men’s magazine. Knowing Castiel, he would take any behavioral rules by far too seriously and that would only make his social skills even worse.

In the meantime, Anna was watching the men with an unreadable expression.

“You should have killed me, Dean,” she spoke emotionlessly, after a couple of moments, “I’d rather be dead than watch how your brother gets us all killed.”

Maybe Sam should have been used to people throwing things like that at him already, but he couldn’t honestly say that it didn’t hurt to hear it again.

“You all know it’s true, even he knows it’s true,” Anna added with a sad smile, sitting in the ring of holy fire with her arms around her knees.

Dammit, deciding what they were going to do with her would have been so much easier if she hadn’t looked like misery personified. They were used to having foes that would rage and threaten them. Having a demon trapped and exorcising it was one thing, killing a trapped angel was a completely different thing. At least, it seemed like a completely different thing, but they knew that they couldn’t just let Anna go, either. As convinced as she was that Sam had to die, she wouldn’t leave the younger Winchester alone for sure.

“Okay, everybody step back,” Gabriel insisted, rubbing his hands together as he stepped closer to his trapped sister, “No worries, I know what I am doing!”

The others didn’t seem to be quite as convinced as the archangel was, but once he had made up his mind there wasn’t much that could stop him anymore. Well, a good argument or a request – especially coming from Sam – might have done the trick, but a couple of uncertain looks surely didn’t.

“Thanks for sharing with the class then, douchebag,” Dean grumbled, but stood back, anyway. As annoyed as he was with – once more – not knowing what the plan was, he had to admit that, when it came to this, he would leave it up to the archangel nearly gladly.

The holy fire flickered and died down slowly as Gabriel was stepping closer to the trapped angel. She couldn’t run from him as things were, anyway.

“I am surprised that you’ll be the one to kill me,” Anna stated, looking at the archangel in front of her.

“You’re not dying today, sister,” Gabriel replied in a neutral tone before he moved forward and seemingly punched the other angel in the guts, only his hand was going into her flesh.

Dean and Bobby averted their gaze and Sam closed his eyes after a few moments, only Castiel watched in rather morbid fascination, but also with some pity in his eyes.

Anna’s cries died down eventually and her body slumped against the archangel nearly lifelessly.

“What the hell was that?” Bobby asked. The older hunter had been the first to find his voice again.

“Castiel, you think you can bring her to some hospital?” Gabriel ignored the question for a moment in favor of finishing what he had just started as quickly as possible.

Castiel nodded curtly and reached for Anna before they both disappeared.

“Gabriel?” Sam said in a questioning tone, because the archangel was currently staring at the point where the two other angels had just been standing.

“I took her grace from her,” Gabriel explained opening his palm a little to let the light shine through enough for the humans to see but not enough to do any damage to them, “She’s as good as human now and I’ll make sure that heaven will think she’s dead.”

Technically, he had just forced one of his siblings into falling which was something that hadn’t been done for a very long time – as far as he knew, anyway – and was largely considered a war-crime. Gabriel was being very selfish about this probably, but the archangel still preferred this option to any other there had been.


	25. Chapter 25

** 25 **

 

“You know, we should do more things as a couple!” the archangel suddenly stated which earned him a very surprised look from the younger Winchester. Dean, however, was forced to spit out his coffee before he chocked on it. That he was sort of, kind of, okay with his brother’s relationship with the archangel didn’t mean that he wanted to see, hear or know anything of it, thank you very much!

“Okay,” Sam replied slowly, still trying to figure out what exactly Gabriel was on about, “Can we talk about that after I take my shower?”

“It’ll be too late then,” Gabriel replied very seriously before he added, “The shower is exactly what I was talking about!”

Neither Winchester had to look to know that the infamous waggling eyebrows had made an appearance. Dean especially didn’t want to look, anyway.

“I did _not_ just hear that!” the older Winchester grumbled. Oh, the things he had to put up with! He wasn’t only imagining that the archangel had gotten more annoying since they had left Bobby’s a couple of days ago, either. Sam seemed to get flustered more frequently, as well. Seriously, Dean didn’t know why his younger brother was putting up with the douchebag, but then again, when Sam wasn’t feeling embarrassed he seemed to be more content than he had been in a long time. That still didn’t mean that Dean wanted to know where that contentedness came from!

“Shared baths are a great transition into nakedness,” Gabriel insisted as if he was speaking about scientific facts, though the grin at the end of his words took away from the impression. Sam couldn’t quite help wondering what had brought this one. Also, he was rather sure that the archangel had taken that little piece of advice from an episode of the Simpsons.

“ _This_ is the moment where I leave,” Dean exclaimed, grabbing his jacket and the keys to the Impala and muttering, “Douchebag angel!”

The younger Winchester really couldn’t blame his brother. He had thought about suggesting that they get separate rooms a few times recently, but things had never gotten quite this bad before. He still had thought about the option often, because sharing a room with Dean was limiting the chances for taking the next few steps in getting intimate with Gabriel.

“What the hell has gotten into you?” Sam asked the archangel in a slightly annoyed tone. Yes, he didn’t really love being embarrassed in front of his brother and he sure as hell didn’t love discussing his sex life in front of Dean! For some reason he did love Gabriel, though.

“I know what hasn’t gotten into -,” the archangel started before a very serious bitch-face from the human stopped him. Alright, he was walking on thin ice, but he had to push his limits every now and then.

“Is that what this is all about?” the younger Winchester sighed deeply. He had feared that this moment would come sooner or later, but this was definitely too soon for him.

“Hey, I don’t want to push you,” Gabriel replied in a joking tone, “But I hear that a case of blue balls as severe as this one might cause the affected area to die off and I think you might regret letting that happen some day.”

This was the point when Sam just stopped listening so he wouldn’t have to actually think about the things the archangel was talking about. It looked like Gabriel wasn’t quite done speaking, even though his partner was ignoring him, though. After a few moments the archangel snapped his fingers in front of Sam’s nose a couple of times to get his attention again.

“I said, do you want photographic evidence?” Gabriel repeated himself with a grin.

The younger Winchester shook his head a couple of times and snorted amusedly. He put his palms on the archangel’s cheeks and leaned in closer to place a short peck on his lips.

“You’re so lucky you’re pretty,” he whispered and pretty much considered the conversation over. Gabriel just had to know that he wasn’t getting anywhere with all this. After all, he wasn’t stupid and not even quite as ignorant as he let himself appear sometimes.

“Whatever. You go have your shower. I promise, I won’t peek,” Gabriel stated with a smirk and disappeared before Sam could have said anything back.

The younger Winchester had never felt quite this paranoid while taking a shower before.

 

* * *

 

 

When Sam came out of the bathroom, he was in for a surprise of the not too pleasant kind.

“Crowley,” he greeted the demon none too happy to have to deal with this on his own. Actually, he had Gabriel to thank for that since he had been the one to scare Dean off, before.

“Do you always take so long to wash your hair?” Crowley replied, not bothering to look at the man he was talking to but looking at the phone in his hand instead.

“Do you always break and enter as you please? Oh hell, who am I talking to?” Sam shot back. It took the Winchester a few more moments to realize that Crowley was in fact playing around with his phone, however. The human stepped closer to the demon and held his hand out demonstratively.

“Quite impressive for such a shortie,” Crowley commented as he gave the phone back to its rightful owner.

Sam was confused at first, but then he quickly glanced at the display of his telephone to get his worst suspicion confirmed. He was quite annoyed at this point, but still not annoyed enough to immediately delete the picture Gabriel had apparently sent him when he had been under the shower.

‘Bravo, you managed to impress Crowley!’ he typed a quick message to the archangel before he even shot the demon a very pissed off look. If he hadn’t been a little mad at Gabriel for sending him that message in the first place, he might have defended the archangel more vocally.

“Seriously,” Crowley started in a very business-like tone that didn’t quite match what he was actually saying, “Aren’t you afraid you will damage your back, having to bow down that far all the time?”

“Like you’re any taller,” Sam couldn’t help commenting, even though he knew that just keeping silent would have been better. He really didn’t want to discuss anything concerning Gabriel with the demon.

“I have at least half an inch on that dwarf!” Crowley insisted immediately.

The younger Winchester couldn’t quite believe the sort of conversations he found himself participating in these days. At least they were talking about body heights, though.

“But I can smite your ass with a simple thought,” Gabriel retorted. He had appeared next to Sam just as the demon had made his last comment. At the mention of Crowley’s name in the text-message he had received, the archangel had returned to the younger Winchester’s side as quickly as possible.

After all, Sam seemed to be a magnet for people trying to kill him. Even if the archangel didn’t think that they had anything to fear from Crowley, as long as Lucifer wasn’t put back into the box anyway, he wasn’t going to take any chances.

The younger Winchester found it a little concerning that he was secretly quite amused about the verbal pissing contest the two supernatural beings were just having. He was too glad that they didn’t get him involved into it to want to draw any attention to himself, however.

“I hadn’t thought you were going to show that picture around, by the way,” Gabriel joked lightly after a moment, nudging Sam with his elbow. The archangel was nothing if not completely confident about and content with his physical form however, so he didn’t really care who saw.

Apparently, the same didn’t apply to the younger Winchester, who looked rather uncomfortable, even if he was trying not to show it.

“He just left his phone in the open,” Crowley explained to Gabriel, “Gigantor hasn’t even taken a good look, yet.”

The archangel didn’t pretend that he wasn’t disappointed, but Sam tried to pretend that he wasn’t even more embarrassed than before. It seemed the demon and the angel would make quite the team under different circumstances. Then again, it surely was better for all the potential victims that they hadn’t teamed up, yet.

“Did you actually have a reason for showing up?” the younger Winchester asked rather impatiently, finally. He wanted to change the topic and he wanted to change it now, dammit!

“I found Pestilence,” Crowley answered without further ado.

Sam would nearly say that having to put up with the demon was worth the information they were about to receive. “Alright, I’ll call Dean.”

 

* * *

 

 

When the older Winchester returned to the motel room he shared with his brother, he had Castiel with him already. Sam assumed he had given the angel a call, after hearing that Crowley had news for them. Or he had called Castiel directly after he had left the motel earlier to complain about the archangel. The younger Winchester wouldn’t put that past his older brother. As little as Dean liked to share his feelings, he seemed to like expressing his annoyance all the more.

“So, shoot!” Dean demanded once they were all inside the room and more or less settled. After what had happened with Anna, the older Winchester was even more wary of the team-extensions the archangel had more or less forced on them. In Dean’s opinion Crowley was clearly the worst of those, too.

“It’s good to see you. How nice of you to risk your life for us. Oh, it’s nothing, my pleasure, really,” Crowley snarked.

His complaint fell on deaf ears all around, however. It wasn’t like the Winchesters usually got thanked for risking their lives! Castiel was probably even worse off. Besides, the angel didn’t quite understand sarcasm in all its manifestations, yet.

“Aww, someone give that poor, misunderstood, demonic scumbag some compassion,” Gabriel shot back sarcastically. He contemplated giving Crowley a cookie with some added salt or holy water just for the fun of it, but they actually still needed the demon to talk, so he’d have to wait to prank him later.

“Thank you, holy feather duster,” Crowley replied completely seriously and earned a smirk from the archangel for it. Yes, under different circumstances they might have made a good team, or they might have been friends, even.

Dean cleared his throat noisily. “Pestilence?”

The demon really wasn’t willing to let the humans rush him, but it wasn’t like he enjoyed being in their motel room, so he thought they might as well get the show on the road.

“Pestilence has started his own little testing laboratory for biological warfare,” Crowley began to speak before he made a portentous break to let his words sink in, “Apparently, he got bored of the plague some time around the 17th century.”

Dean shivered as his mind went back to the possible future he had visited some months earlier. He wouldn’t have to take a risk, if he decided to bet money that Pestilence was quite fond of the Croatoan virus these days. Then again, the fact that there was a testing facility suggested, that that wasn’t the only thing the Horseman had up his sleeve. The older Winchester didn’t like that thought one little bit and it seemed that all the others agreed.

“He’s not alone, either,” Crowley added, if only to make sure the morons didn’t underestimate what they were up against. After all, he wanted them to succeed in this. They could go back to being mortal enemies after the Apocalypse was dealt with, though he supposed he wouldn’t mind keeping some business ties afterward. You never knew when you would need a pair of idiotic humans and their pet angels to run errands.

“The place is swarming with demons and the security system is first-class. I would know, I had the same in my mansion,” he elaborated.

“Alright, where is the place?” Dean asked after a short moment of silence.

If Pestilence was there and conducting any experiments that very moment, then they’d better get there as soon as possible to stop him. Stopping the Apocalypse wouldn’t be quite the victory, if most of the human population of the Earth succumbed to one of Pestilence’s viruses, anyway.

“Montana,” Crowley replied, “You won’t find this on Google maps, so I’d better make sure you actually get there, this time!”

Okay, so it wouldn’t have done them any good, if they had actually gone after Lucifer as he had wanted them to, but that didn’t mean that he was willing to risk them changing their minds about another mission!

Sam didn’t quite like the sound of all of that, but they had no choice. If they wanted to get to Pestilence, they would have to put up with the less than ideal circumstances. He wondered if Gabriel would actually help them out with the demons this time, but there wasn’t an actual reason to doubt that he would. The real question was how many demons the archangel could smite at once, or, maybe, how many he could smite at once without calling down the entire God-squad on them.

“Fine, let’s go,” Dean stated with a sort of fatalistic shrug.

“One does not simply walk into Mordor, foolish Winchester,” the demon stated, leaving no doubt about just how stupid he thought Dean was being, “I have a plan.”

Yes, Dean hated those words when they came from Gabriel, but he found he hated them even more coming out of Crowley’s mouth.


	26. Chapter 26

** 26 **

 

Castiel was walking up to the building next to Crowley. His hands had been cuffed with silver bands that had a very elaborate design of sigils on them. The demon had initially protested against changing the symbols slightly, thus rendering the binding magic useless, but the others had insisted that nobody was going to notice the little changes.

As things were, Castiel was wearing one of the _most expensive and hard to come by pieces of crap in existence_ , as Crowley had put it. The angel would do nothing to let the demon know that his fading powers made the handcuffs an inconvenience anyway, even if their greatest power had been broken.

Of course, Dean had protested that Crowley didn’t have to pretend he had caught Castiel to get into the building. He could have done the job just as well! The demon however had made the rather convincing argument that basically all of Lucifer’s minions would kill Dean at sight. Furthermore, they would call Lucifer the moment Sam showed up and that Crowley had gotten his hands on an archangel and was not only still alive but had also captured him was just too unbelievable.

It gave Dean all sorts of bad feelings about the entire situation that this was the only plan they had and that the plan called for them to trust the demon. It didn’t help that he knew for a fact that Castiel could neither lie nor act to save his life. Then again, he only had to look like he hated being close to Crowley and being brought into an old asylum that had a lot of demons and Pestilence in it, so there was no need for a lot of acting.

“Try to look like you loathe me,” the king of the crossroads told the angel next to him in a hushed tone.

Castiel just looked at the demon with his stoic expression that was darker than usual, though. He really didn’t like having to work with Crowley this closely or at all, really. He understood that all this was a part of the plan, but that didn’t make having to bear the demon’s presence any easier. It helped a little that he was meant to look uncomfortable anyway, however.

“Alright, _that_ works as well,” Crowley shrugged and then changed his expression to one of complete and utter smugness as they came closer to the door and thus to the demonic guards.

“Your boss will love to see this!” the demon addressed the others and gave the chain attached to Castiel’s handcuff’s a hard yank that caused the angel to glare at him angrily. If the angel had been any better at acting, Crowley wouldn’t have had to force him into showing the right emotions, he still might have done it just for the heck of it, though.

The other two demons looked Castiel over and got a dangerous snarl when they attempted to touch the angel. They chose to keep their distance after that.

To his credit, Crowley also pulled Castiel slightly backward and away from the demons, just in case. After all, he wanted this to go over as quickly and as smoothly as possible. Bitten off fingers or wild kicking didn’t fit that description. A damaged angel didn’t as well, however. Not to mention what it would do to his health and general wellbeing, if he returned Dean Winchester’s pet-angel in any other condition than the one he had borrowed him in.

The two guards finally stepped aside and let Crowley and Castiel enter. Step one had gone exactly as planned. Too bad that this had been the easiest of all the tasks that would still come their way before the night was over.

 

* * *

 

 

This time, not even Gabriel liked he plan they were working with.

That might have given Dean some satisfaction if not for the fact that he absolutely hated the plan himself. This seemed to be like a requirement for all their plans these days, however. Actually, he started to think that all their plans had to meet two standards. First of all, they had to be the only option available at the time and Dean had to dislike them.

“Tell me that Cas is still on your radar!” the older Winchester demanded from the archangel once he saw the angel and the demon enter the building.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “No worries, Dean-o, I know exactly where your girlfriend’s at,” he smirked, but it wasn’t quite as heartfelt as it would have been usually.

Their plan lived and died with the archangel’s ability to monitor Castiel’s location at any time. Sure, Crowley had told them, that there might be wards against angels, but there surely wouldn’t be anything blocking an archangel’s powers. Lucifer would barely tell anyone how they could make him more vulnerable, after all. While Gabriel had agreed with the demon’s reasoning, he still couldn’t help thinking that knowing where Castiel was, wasn’t quite the same as knowing that he was okay.

It said a lot about how worried the older Winchester was that he didn’t find a scathing reply for Gabriel’s comment. Sam gave Gabriel a reprimanding look, however. The archangel didn’t look overly apologetic, but the younger Winchester hadn’t expected him to be, anyway.

He would probably just have to get used to the idea that his brother and his boyfriend – at this point Sam supposed calling Gabriel anything else would just not cut it – would never get along. Maybe that should have bothered him, but as long as they weren’t actively trying to kill each other – no doubt about who would win in such a case – he just didn’t. The younger Winchester thought that it was a good thing that his brother and the archangel were nearly evenly matched as far as throwing stupid comments at each other, too. It kept him from having to take one side more clearly than the other, anyway.

“They’re still moving,” Gabriel interrupted Sam’s musings.

They had to take their chance to get to Pestilence and Crowley had argued – successfully – that the Horseman might just up and leave at the first sign of them coming for him. They had already taken out two of his brothers, after all. So, instead of taking out a bunch of demons on the way in and surely alerting Pestilence of their presence that way, Crowley would pretend to bring a captured angel to the Horseman while Gabriel was monitoring his brother’s exact whereabouts and brought himself and the two humans inside once they were close enough.

The biggest problem with the plan was that the archangel didn’t actually know whose presence Castiel was in at any given moment. He’d just have to make his move once the angel wasn’t walking anymore and hope there was no other reason for him to stop for a longer while than the fact that he was standing in front of Pestilence.

Maybe, maybe Castiel would get a chance to take the Horseman out himself, which would be the preferable option, even if it was unlikely.

You knew you were in trouble when your best plan was hinging on hopes and maybes.

 

* * *

 

 

The first floor of the building had been basically empty, except for the two guards and some furniture that had been left to rot when the asylum had been closed down.

Crowley had been given directions to bring the angel to the second basement floor and this far it didn’t look like they were in danger of being stopped or exposed even.

If the guards had been Crowley’s men he would have skinned them alive for falling for their little ruse, but as things were, he was quite happy that they were brainless enough not to question him.

Of course, his own guards had fallen for an archangel in drag. Good people just were damn hard to come by these days.

They were greeted by pained moans and muffled screams once the elevator stopped. It was the first time that the angel looked worried and if Crowley used a lot of imagination, maybe even a little sickened.

No demons were to be seen, but judging by the noise the floor had to hold quite a lot of people and the king of the crossroads would bet his title that most of them were humans. It didn’t take too many demons to keep a bunch of humans in check, after all. Especially not if they were in as much pain as they sounded to be.

“What is this?” Castiel asked, even sounding a little unsettled. It did nothing to ease his nerves that he couldn’t actually see any of the people those sounds were coming from, it made him feel even more apprehensive, in fact.

“I told you Pestilence was working on biological warfare,” Crowley replied untouched, “What did you think he was testing the stuff on?”

The angel did not answer. To tell the truth, he had not spared the question what exactly Pestilence would be doing too much thought. There was absolutely no doubt that he was infecting people with all sorts of diseases, probably just for his own sick amusement. The glimpses Castiel caught of the effects those illnesses had on the victims through little windows in the doors made something in the angel cringe and lash out furiously at the same time. None of these feelings made it to Castiel’s expression or general posture, though.

They reached the end of the corridor not a minute too early. The demon would never admit it, but he had been kind of unnerved by the constant noise, as well. There was a reason he was into sales, after all. Oh, he could enjoy the sounds he could get out of someone on occasion, but only when he was the one calling the shots, as a rule.

“Interesting operation you have going on here,” Crowley greeted the Horseman who was standing at the other side of the room.

Pestilence was wearing a white lab coat that was matching the surroundings they were in. If they hadn’t known better, he would have looked like a doctor. Or a mad scientist, which was closer to the truth.

“Humans are fascinating,” the Horseman spoke in a voice that sounded much too nice for such a despicable being, “There are so many possibilities for their own body to betray them, really. I fear there might be too little people on this planet to even try all of them.”

At least the disappearances of War and Famine were giving him a wider population to work with. Pestilence had never really liked having to share with his brothers.

“Too bad that the boss is only interested in quick results,” he mused before he even took a closer look at the two newcomers. He had been informed by one of the demons guarding the entrance that he was going to have a visitor bringing a gift.

“Crowley, was it?” the Horseman asked, “Why do you bring me a defective angel?”

First of all, it seemed unlikely that a demon like Crowley would manage to bring an angel at the top of his powers down without extensive damage done to both of them, even if he had the right equipment at his disposal. Also, the vibes the angel gave off were not as strong as would have been expected from a full-blown angel.

“It never hurts to be prepared,” Crowley answered smugly, “Who knows, once Lucifer is done with Earth he might want to cause some chaos in Heaven.”

To be honest, Crowley wouldn’t give a damn about all of Heaven dying slowly and painfully, he didn’t really give a damn about them being there as long as they kept to themselves - as they had for the longest time - either, though. His main concern was that Earth remained more or less in the state it was in now. He hadn’t fought his way to the top to get out of Hell to have Earth turn into Hell! He could have remained in the pit, if he had enjoyed anything about it.

Not to mention that Crowley still thought that Lucifer was by far more likely to wipe out all demons than he was to destroy all angels, but he was pretty alone with his opinion there.

“I sincerely hope you weren’t trying to collect bonus points with the boss. This sorry specimen will not be of any help, even if Lucifer should plan anything alike,” Pestilence stated thoughtfully, approaching the other two men, “Look at him! Barely an angel anymore and not much stronger than the vessel he’s in.”

If anything, it would be interesting to find out what sort of disease it would take to infect the vessel of an angel in a way that would affect their grace as well, but this one was very close to succumbing to his human body, as was. Pestilence’s very presence seemed to be hard on the fallen angel already.

Castiel prepared himself to break the handcuffs, reach for the knife hidden in his coat and try to cut a couple of fingers off the Horseman’s hand, but intense feelings of nausea and fatigue were making it hard for him to concentrate.

When Pestilence finally stood close enough to touch, the angel was too weak to even try and break his chains. He managed to reach for the knife, but the Horseman got a good grip on his hand before he could have done anything with it. Castiel’s eyes widened for a moment before he fell to his knees coughing and shuddering.

“Playing with a toy that’s already broken isn’t very entertaining, Crowley,” Pestilence stated wiping his hands on his trousers, “I think the two of us could have much more fun.”


	27. Chapter 27

** 27 **

 

A long time ago, Crowley had been used to pain. You could only be in hell for so long before your body got accustomed to a certain level of agony. But then he had come back to Earth in a meat suit that acted as a nice barrier between him and any pain that was inflicted on him. And, once he had climbed the career ladder of the crossroad demons he hadn’t gotten injured gravely anymore.

The point was, it had been a very long time since Crowley had last felt real pain. Whatever exactly Pestilence had just done to him served as a very effective reminder, however. Either the Horseman had done some experimentation on demons before, or he was just assailing Crowley’s meat suit with so many painful sensations at once that the demon couldn’t catch a break. Not that he particularly cared which option was correct while he was still struggling to breathe and writhing in pain.

Castiel was barely conscious at that point, only twitching every now and then.

Of course, time seemed to pass much slower when you were in pain, but Crowley still thought that their backup was taking far longer than they should have!

He hadn’t even finished that thought when the three missing team-members appeared out of thin air.

Gabriel, being the one of them best equipped to withstand the Horseman’s powers, immediately grabbed Pestilence and forced his hand toward Dean, who cut the ring of the Horseman’s finger with a quick swipe of his knife. Pestilence gave a deafening shriek and disappeared.

Crowley found himself able to breathe and stand upright again pretty much instantly. Apparently, it was really his meat suit that had been mainly affected, otherwise he would have taken longer to recover.

Dean had moved to kneel next to Castiel and was tapping his friend’s face lightly. The angel seemed barely conscious and was breathing shallowly, still.

“Get those off him, dammit!” the older Winchester yelled at Crowley and indicated the handcuffs Castiel still wore. If they were dampening his powers even in the slightest that would clearly be bad for his recovery right now.

The demon obeyed, if only because any sort of sarcasm or witty comment would be completely lost at the other man that very moment, anyway.

The angel remained largely unresponsive even when the cuffs were taken off his wrists, however.

“Dean!” Sam exclaimed urgently, stabbing one demon with Ruby’s knife and then quickly blocking the door by putting a chair under the doorknobs. That wouldn’t keep the demons outside for long, though.

“Get us out of here!” Dean demanded looking at Gabriel and moving to stand up while dragging Castiel’s nearly completely limp body with him. He was sort of lucky that Jimmy hadn’t been heavy.

“What about the people out there?” Sam asked before the archangel could do anything. He was rather undecided on what to do, but he thought he had to bring up the fact that there were other humans around.

“They’re all dead meat, anyway,” Crowley spoke. The younger Winchester felt rather irrationally relieved at the fact that the demon had pointed this out instead of the archangel, even if he could clearly see that Gabriel was thinking something along those lines, as well.

“It’s not like we’re in a position to help them,” Dean agreed, although it pained him to do so. Then again, he felt the greatest responsibility to make sure that Castiel was okay and he clearly wasn’t as things were and probably wouldn’t be if they decided to stay longer.

Gabriel nodded and transported them all back to where they had left the Impala since he really doubted that Dean would have appreciated anything else. He wasn’t exactly in the mood to annoy him just for the heck of it, either.

The older Winchester still had Castiel’s arm around his shoulder and one of his around the other man’s waist to keep him upright, but at least the angel managed to stare at him a little confused at this point.

“Well, this certainly was fun,” Crowley snarked, “I hope we get to repeat that soon. Do me a favor and lose my number!”

It didn’t surprise anyone that the demon was gone the second he had stopped speaking and nobody was disappointed, either.

“Dean?” Castiel asked, sounding very sleepy and confused. At least he was conscious, though.

“’S okay, Cas. We got the ring and now we get some rest,” Dean told his friend in a soothing tone and helped him to get settled in the backseat of the Impala, which wasn’t quite as easy as it sounded.

“You’ll take a while to get to one of your wonderful motels, I assume,” Gabriel said, taking Sam’s hand and intertwining their fingers for a moment. Dean was very busy with getting Castiel’s rather limp body to get into an acceptable position, so he wasn’t seeing anything.

“I think we’ll take the closest one. I mean, look at Cas,” Sam replied squeezing the archangel’s fingers slightly, “Why? Are you not coming with? I… I was going to ask Dean to get us separated rooms for the night.”

Gabriel thought that the younger Winchester’s slight blush at that confession was just too cute for words.

“I’ll meet you there, but I guess I should take care of some unfinished business back there,” the archangel was quick to assure the embarrassed human who looked like he was about to either question or just thank him for what he had just announced, “ _Somebody’s_ got to.”

Sam smiled slightly and leaned closer to press a quick kiss to the corner of Gabriel’s mouth. “I’ll wait up.”

“You’d better, or I won’t be held accountable for what happens while you are sleeping!” the archangel joked. He forced himself to let go of the younger Winchester and disappeared with a flutter of wings.

Sam was still smiling slightly when he took his seat next to Dean. A quick check of the backseat revealed that Castiel was asleep, but at least he looked more peaceful and at rest than he had before.

“Gabriel’s going to make sure the asylum is once more abandoned,” the younger Winchester spoke in a hushed tone, as to not disturb their sleeping friend.

“Good,” Dean simply replied. At least the archangel really was making himself useful, lately.

“Dean, look, would you mind us getting two rooms tonight?” Sam asked cautiously. He really wasn’t looking for a fight with his brother, but he would get his way in this case. He wasn’t above playing it very nice to shorten the discussion, however.

“Yeah, probably a good idea. Cas really needs a bed today, too,” Dean replied and gave his brother a pointed look before the younger Winchester could say that this was not what he had meant. The older Winchester understood perfectly well what his brother was implying, but he would just rather pretend that he didn’t.

As much as Sam thought that the ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy of the military was stupid and discriminating, he’d gladly apply it to their current situation. If that made him a hypocrite, that was oddly okay with him.

 

* * *

 

 

It had been a long time since Sam had felt this nervous. He really was grateful that Dean didn’t want to know anything about all of this, because he was sure his older brother would have mocked him mercilessly about being a girl, especially under the changed circumstances.

Before Sam got to overthink the situation any more Gabriel appeared in front of the bed he had opted to sit at.

The archangel didn’t wait to step closer to the human and stand between his legs.

Sam would have asked what exactly Gabriel had done with the old asylum, but the smell of burned wood and other things gave him a pretty good idea. Maybe someone else would have found that off-putting, but it was a scent Sam was well acquainted with and that he found strangely comforting.

The younger Winchester leaned slightly forward and wrapped his arms around Gabriel’s middle to better lean his head against the archangel’s chest. He knew the steady heartbeat wasn’t quite as vital to an angel as it was to a human, but he liked the sound, anyway.

Gabriel smiled contently as he ran his fingers through Sam’s hair and then angled the other man’s head so he could kiss him easily.

“So, you got a chance to look at that picture, yet?” the smirk was very prominent in the archangel’s voice, but Sam found that he didn’t really care. If Gabriel wanted to verbally tease him a little that was fine with him and preferred to the other option.

“What do you think?” the younger Winchester replied, but gave the archangel a small grin that pretty much told him what he had wanted to know.

In one smooth movement Gabriel straddled Sam’s thighs, so their faces were at the same level. The archangel leaned in to seal his lips over the younger man’s for a couple of moments before he slightly altered his tactic and nibbled on Sam’s bottom lip instead.

To tell the truth, Gabriel would have been content enough with only doing this, but it seemed that this time the younger Winchester had different ideas.

The arms around the archangel’s waist tightened until they were chest to chest and there was no space left between them.

“And, what do you say?” Gabriel whispered into Sam’s ear before he ducked his head to get better access to the human’s neck. Judged by the little noises his actions dragged out of his partner, Sam was enjoying himself quite a bit. The growing bulge in his boxers was quite telling, as well.

“I’m not completely convinced you didn’t mess with that photo,” Sam replied, trying and failing to sound teasing. He found it wasn’t quite easy to get the tone right when he had a very determined archangel biting at his neck and rolling his hips against his, however.

He opted to forego any more talking and instead just helped Gabriel to take his jacket off and began to work on the buttons of his shirt.

“Oh, you want to check!” the archangel grinned. He definitely liked the prospect of finally getting his human into a state of undress that wouldn’t be suitable for the general public anymore.

But when Gabriel raised his hand to snap his fingers, Sam stopped him.

“Let’s just be sort of normal for tonight, okay?” the younger Winchester suggested in a questioning tone.

“You realize who you’re talking to, right?” Gabriel smirked, but moved his hand to manually take Sam’s t-shirt off, anyway. There really was something about the messy look the younger Winchester’s hair got from the removal of the shirt, so the archangel wasn’t too disappointed about having to do things the human – read, slow – way.

“That’s why I said ‘sort of’,” the human shot back and finally managed to open the last button on Gabriel’s shirt and push it off the archangel’s shoulders.

All thoughts of speech pretty much left the building when their naked chests touched for the first time and the archangel pulled the human back into a deep kiss. Gabriel reached behind himself to get his shoes and socks off, but Sam barely realized that his partner was doing something other than alternately sucking and biting at his lips.

“You… you’re still… overdressed,” the younger Winchester managed to say between quiet moans. He was getting a little frustrated with the archangel’s jeans that clearly were in the way of even more contact between them. At the same time he was a little astonished at himself, because he couldn’t quite figure out how to get said jeans off with the way they were positioned. The thought that they could just move a bit never even came to Sam’s mind that was on a serious endorphin high already.

“Nah, we’re even right now,” Gabriel replied with a mischievous grin. He watched with some fond fascination how the younger Winchester was struggling and failing to put two and two together. “Means, I’m not wearing underwear.”

Something in Sam’s already malfunctioning brain short-circuited at those words and he rather abruptly let himself fall back into the bed and brought Gabriel with him as he rolled them over. He noticed with some satisfaction that he could quite easily push the pants off the archangel’s hips in this position.

“Getting excited, are we?” the shorter male asked, grinning against Sam’s lips. He abandoned talking in favor of pushing his tongue back into the human’s mouth after a moment, however.

“Do you always have to…,” the younger Winchester started to say breathlessly, but trailed off when his partner finally pulled him out of his boxer shorts forcing a deep moan from Sam. He hadn’t known just how much he had craved the touch until it had happened.

Sam’s mind couldn’t really keep up after that point, but he knew for a fact that he hadn’t felt this good in a very long time and judged by the sounds the archangel was making, he agreed wholeheartedly.

The younger Winchester was still trying to catch his breath when Gabriel just had to interrupt the pleasantly tingling afterglow.

“So?” the archangel asked, clearly wanting an answer, even if the human had no idea what he had just been asked.

The younger Winchester just gave him a confused look and didn’t bother to even lift his head. Yes, he didn’t really have any strength to spare at that moment.

“Did I tamper with the picture?” Gabriel clarified.

Instead of an answer, the archangel got two arms securely wrapped around him and pulling him firmly back against the man lying next to him. He wasn’t even dreaming of complaining, though.


	28. Chapter 28

** 28 **

 

The Winchesters and their two accompanying angels had once more taken up residence at Bobby Singer’s house. Well, Sam, Dean and Castiel had. Gabriel was gone more often than not, but he made sure to be around for some time before the younger Winchester retired for the night. And then he’d generally stick around some more.

After the first day, Dean had insisted that Sam should stay in the guest room, since whatever it was that would be going on should better happen behind closed doors before any of the other residents of the house got scarred for life.

Bobby had agreed wholeheartedly. He was glad that the younger Winchester had found someone other than his brother to share the burden of everything that was going on with, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to know the details. This, at least, seemed to be something they all could agree on. Sam didn’t particularly want them all to be all well informed, anyway.

Castiel had made a quick enough recovery, but his powers were very much drained. It was more than strange to see the angel act as human as he did these days, but apparently he needed to actually eat, sleep and bathe now. Dean seemingly enjoyed showing their friend his way around all the normal human things while teasing him mercilessly, but Sam wasn’t fooled. His older brother was very worried about Castiel and didn’t know how else to express it without losing macho-points.

The younger Winchester wouldn’t dare to say that it was very cute how Dean was trying to teach Castiel everything he thought was important about life from correct shooting stances to the best pizza toppings available.

He was going to witness another one of those moments, Sam figured as he walked toward Bobby’s kitchen. This promised to be a good start to the new day!

“What do you mean ‘it’s satisfactory’?” Dean asked, imitating Castiel as he quoted when he must have said earlier. By the sound of it, the angel had made a grave mistake by using that particular wording to describe something. The older Winchester sounded ready to make a big defensive speech in favor of whatever it was.

“The taste agrees with me. The nutrient values are insufficient, however,” Castiel elaborated and did not realize that he should have better let the topic rest and just take Dean’s indignation.

Sam wondered if pie had been involved, but the angel would probably no longer be alive if he had dared to call pie only satisfactory.

“Dude, we’re talking about pop tarts,” Dean huffed and then added in an explanatory tone, “You eat them because they are tasty, not for any nutrient values!”

Really, they had neglected to teach Castiel about any of the important things in life, this far. The older Winchester vowed to change that while they had a little downtime and while they still had the chance.

“In that case, they are highly satisfactory,” Castiel amended his judgment of the sugary treats after he had considered that new piece of information. Compared to cheeseburgers, pop tarts didn’t even come a close second, though.

“Would it kill you to look a little more satisfied then?” Dean snorted and then turned his attention toward his younger brother, “You, on the other hand, do me a favor and try to look a little _less_ satisfied!”

Alright, Sam wasn’t overdoing it too much, but he still looked as content as if he had just gotten laid and that alone made the older Winchester shudder. If the other part in the picture had been a hot blonde or a cute redhead Dean wouldn’t have minded quite that much. Hell, if it had been any other guy than the douchebag archangel he might have minded less.

Then again, the older Winchester would never admit it, but he was already less upset about the entire relationship his brother and the little jerk had going than he had been at the start.

“Dean, how long are you going to keep pretending that Gabriel and I aren’t… an item?” Sam asked with a sigh as he poured himself a cup of coffee. Strangely enough, his brother seemed to be sort of okay with Gabriel most of the time, but he was in complete denial about the relationship between the archangel and the younger Winchester.

“Okay, fine, let’s stop pretending,” Dean replied remarkably calmly, “Are you seriously trying to tell me that this isn’t just some weird phase you’re going through?”

“It’s not,” Sam said more defiantly than he had originally wanted to, “I love him, Dean!”

Okay, at the beginning the younger Winchester had thought he was just going through a curious phase himself. That had been a part of why he had kept Gabriel at a distance even after he had clearly felt a pull toward him, too. After all, it would have been all sorts of wrong to use the archangel, whom he had thought of as a friend at that point already, just to find out if he really had bi-sexual tendencies.

“Why would you?” Dean asked as if he had just made the most natural question ever.

Sam groaned loudly, but Castiel looked interested in the answer he was going to give, as well. The angel probably didn’t realize how insulting the question was, though.

“You really want to know? Fine!” the younger Winchester replied, trying to speak quickly enough so he couldn’t think twice about it, “I admit, at first, I just liked how he was looking at me. You know, like I wasn’t just one step away from becoming some sort of monster, but like I was just a perfectly normal guy he happened to have the hots for.”

Dean clearly wanted to say something at this point, but he never got the chance. Sam really didn’t want to hear his brother’s assurance that nobody – nobody who counted, anyway – thought he was a monster. It wasn’t so much about what everyone else really thought, but more about the way they had been looking at him like it was possible for him to snap and go dark side on them any moment. Of course, they had every right to feel like that, but it still made having someone who didn’t all the more valuable.

“But, even if you don’t like to hear it, Gabe is pretty damn funny and attentive and he cares about me so much that I’m starting to think that maybe there’s something good about me after all,” the younger Winchester explained to his uncomfortable looking brother and their seemingly fascinated angelic friend.

That was another thing about Castiel becoming more human. His face had gotten slightly more expressive. Then again, that might be due to the things he was learning about ordinary human life as much as it was about his burned out grace.

“Are you done growing lady parts?” Dean asked after a few short moments of silence, “I’m not sure your… _boyfriend_ would appreciate it.”

Okay, so, there was no ignoring the situation anymore. Whatever! It wasn’t like the older Winchester had seriously managed to ban the thoughts of what the archangel might be doing to his baby brother from his mind completely before.

At least Sam seemed to know what he wanted and this time it didn’t seem to cause him any harm. Dean had to do as Bobby had told him when he had sulked the other day and suck it up and be a good brother, anyway. The older hunter had promised him a – literal – buttload of rock salt if he didn’t, after all.

“Ah, I wouldn’t care,” Gabriel commented with a casual shrug, “I’m nothing, if not adventurous and open-minded.”

Sam snorted amusedly and put a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. The archangel had, of course, appeared right next to him. A rather mischievous look from his partner made goosebumps rise on the younger Winchester’s arms, however.

“I _would_ care!” he told Gabriel definitely. He really wouldn’t appreciate any surprises in that department! He had had a hard enough time not shrieking like a girl about the surprise handjob he had received out of the blue the other night. Well, he would have nearly shrieked at the first contact, afterward he had enjoyed the experience.

“No worries, Sasquatch, I love you just the way you are,” the archangel assured the younger man in an overly serious tone.

Dean made a few gagging noises. If the other two were acting like teenagers, so could he!

“Dean, are you well?” Castiel asked worriedly, immediately patting the older Winchester’s back in an imitation of what he had seen in one of the TV-shows Dean had made him watch the other day.

“Uh, yeah, thanks Cas,” the older Winchester gave his friend a short smile before he put a hand on Castiel’s shoulder, “Come on, we better abandon the ship before shit get’s serious!”

The angel did not fully understand what his friend had just spoken about, or why he had worded things as strangely as he had, but he was willing to follow his lead any day.

The very moment their brothers had left the room Gabriel latched onto Sam and claimed his lips in a heated kiss.

“Miss me?” the archangel whispered into the human’s ear once he thought he had thoroughly greeted him.

“You barely ever give me enough time to even start missing you,” Sam chuckled silently, but held his partner close without any intention of letting him go again all too soon.

“You said a couple of very nice things about me earlier,” Gabriel stated against the younger Winchester’s neck, watching fascinated as the younger man shivered ever so slightly with every time he exhaled against his skin.

“You spied on us,” Sam accused him, but didn’t sound anything like upset while doing it. Really, you couldn’t be with an archangel without getting used to the idea that privacy was mostly a thing of the past. Gabriel could show up wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted and without anyone noticing if he put his mind to it, after all. Not to mention the tag the archangel had put on Sam’s phone so he could track his movements and that was only the tag the younger Winchester knew about! Hell, for all he knew, all his boxer shorts might have tags on them by now.

“Nah, just popped in at the right time conveniently,” Gabriel replied, looking like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.

He leaned in to press his lips against the younger Winchester’s once again to put the talk about business they would have to have soon off some more. He didn’t bear bad news, but once they were on a mission again, his Sammy-time would be cut short dramatically, so he had to make the most out of what he had.

“We should go talk to the others,” Gabriel stated reluctantly after a couple of minutes, “The pagans want to meet up with Team Free Will.”

That they would meet up with a bunch of angels as well was something the pagan gods didn’t know this far. He would have never gotten them to agree to a meeting, if he had put his cards on the table, though. Not to mention that he would have spent quite a lot of time being tortured in a million ways by a bunch of enraged gods lately, if he had chosen to reveal his real – or rather, original – nature to them one by one.

They found Bobby on the front porch where he was watching how Dean was trying to explain the inner life of the Impala to Castiel. Sam chuckled quietly at the picture the two made. Being taught anything about the Impala was the ultimate sign of respect, trust and affection Dean was capable of.

“Hey, kiddos, you’ll want to hear this!” Gabriel called over to them, grinning from ear to ear when he saw that the older Winchester had actually managed to get Castiel out of his usual tax-accountant outfit and into something more fit for tinkering with a car. He had to admit that the black t-shirt and blue jeans fit Castiel quite nicely, too. Then angel still held himself like a holy tax-accountant, though.

“The pagan gods have decided to meet us tomorrow night,” the archangel informed the little group around him, “Yeah, I know, short notice, but I’m sure the party will be a blast. Especially once the angels join!”

Dean shot Gabriel a sour look at that stupid joke. Castiel just considered the information and nodded curtly.

“Should we tell Ellen and Jo?” Sam asked after a moment of consideration. The two women would be pissed if they didn’t include them, but they were on a case and this really was short notice.

“I’ll give Ellen a call and tell her what’s going to happen, but they don’t have to be present for this,” Bobby replied. The two women shouldn’t feel left out, but there was no reason for them to hurry to one place or another for a simple talk that would happen without them just the same. Besides, if things turned sour and the gods and the angels decided to battle it out there and then, it would be good to know that at least a part of the team remained standing. He would not tell Ellen about the latter thought, of course. The older Harvelle was worried about them constantly, anyway.

“I guess there’s no use telling you guys that you don’t have to be present, either,” Gabriel shrugged lightly, because he knew the answer to that one, already. Stupid, stubborn Winchesters! And that very much included Bobby and Castiel.


	29. Chapter 29

** 29 **

 

“Too much?” Gabriel asked with a smirk, looking over to Sam who gave him a seriously doubtful look.

They had arrived at the location where they would meet the pagan gods early. The humans should have a chance to get acquainted with the surrounding area, just in case. Also, Gabriel thought he might as well prepare a couple of things. Hey, if they were doing this, they might as well do it with style!

“The balloons seem a little over the top,” Sam replied amusedly, “It looks like…”

“Some high school prom,” Dean interrupted his brother, “All that’s missing is someone spiking the punch and the realistic chance to get laid afterward.”

After all, they weren’t meeting up with people the older Winchester would ever want to get too closely acquainted with.

“Some of us very much have that chance, Dean-o,” Gabriel grinned and waggled his eyebrows at the younger Winchester who just snorted, but fought back a smile nevertheless.

The archangel still removed most of the balloons again. He might have gone slightly over the top with the decoration, he had to admit.

Dean huffed and was about to give a scathing reply when a rather deep, but clearly female voice prevented him from doing just that.

“Just what I expected you to come up with,” the rather tall, black haired, but deadly pale woman stated with a small amused smile. The closer she came the more apparent it got that she really was tall for a woman, but the two men accompanying her made her look smaller in comparison. Dean figured the woman was on one eye-level with Castiel, however.

“Really classy,” the blonde man next to her added equally amused. His big grin showed off two rows of perfectly white and very sharp looking teeth. This one might have been the same size as Sam, maybe just a little taller, but his posture wasn’t the straightest, so it was hard to tell.

“Could use more balloons,” the second man spoke. He seemed to have a slight problem with pronouncing the s-sounds, but he talked with enough confidence in his voice to cover it up nearly completely. Out of the three he was the tallest, but he was by far less bulky than the other man was. Other than that, he had the same black hair as the woman, but the same healthy complexion as the other man.

Castiel and Bobby had made their way over to the group, in the meantime. Whoever those people were, chances were they wanted to know what they had to say. Or be there, in case talking wasn’t what they were up to, really.

The Winchesters both were uncomfortable with the presence of the strangers. They should have had some time before the meeting took place, after all. Gods showing up early could hardly be a good sign!

Gabriel surprised everyone when he basically launched himself at the woman and hugged the hell out of her, though. It was equally surprising that her two tall companions joined the hug instead of doing anything against it or ignoring it.

“It’s so good to see you all!” the archangel exclaimed before he let the woman go and stepped away from the group ever so slightly.

“You should feel honored. We’re very busy people,” the woman stated seriously before she added in a much lighter tone, “But I figured ‘Hey, they won’t be any less dead when I come back’, so…”

The humans didn’t quite like the sound of that, but none of them commented on it since nobody understood what the hell she was talking about in the first place.

“You’re Sam Winchester, Lucifer’s vessel, right?” the blonde man with the slightly out of control hair and sharp teeth asked and didn’t even wait for the human’s reply before he poked him hard and went on talking, “I was meant to end the world when I ate Odin. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this? Dammit, you just had to mess things up! And you didn’t even eat Odin!”

Gabriel had looked slightly alarmed at first, but had relaxed when the man’s tone had changed from annoyed to teasing. Yes, he always had had a strange sense of humor, not that the archangel was one to judge there. He didn’t quite like how Sam’s expression got darker, but there wasn’t much he could have done about it that very moment.

Castiel was the first one who put two and two together, but Bobby was the first who spoke.

“Which means you are Fenrir,” the older hunter stated, looking at the man, who clearly was a man and not a big wolf, but he had some wolfish features, “And you would be Hel.”

The woman looked like someone who belonged into the underworld and she had spoken about dead people before. It was a guess, but an educated one. Both of them confirmed their identities by nodding and bowing slightly.

“And I suppose you are Jörmungandr then,” Bobby addressed the third stranger. He didn’t really have any clues supporting his theory, but knowing who the other two were now it seemed like a logical assumption. The snake-like features weren’t quite as prominent as his brother’s wolfish ones, but they were still there.

So, those three were Loki’s children, the ones that were gods themselves, anyway. Well, one rather famous one was missing, but Bobby really didn’t want to bring up the one of which Gabriel would technically be the mother instead of the father. Knowing the archangel, he might get into a detailed description of the mechanics of that if provoked. The older hunter could really do without ever knowing these things.

Dean didn’t seem to have the same reservations, however.

“What, you didn’t invite that eight-legged horse, mommy?” he asked the archangel sarcastically.

Sam gave his brother a surprised look at that, but then again, it figured that Dean would know things like that. He had probably been waiting for a chance to bring this up for a long time, too.

“We’re not particularly close,” Gabriel replied with a shrug, not acknowledging the taunting undertone the older Winchester had just taken with him. He was rather happy that his three favorite kids had done as he had requested and had shown up early. The archangel wasn’t looking forward to having to tell them certain truths, but he knew it was inevitable at this point and he’d much rather have that talk more or less in private.

“Can’t blame you,” Hel spoke, putting a hand on her father’s shoulder, “Damn, if I had to give birth to something with eight legs, I’d never ever want to see it again, either!”

“Also, Sleipnir is a stuck up horseface,” Jörmungandr added casually.

“As if carrying Odin’s fat ass around all day long counts as a career,” Fenrir huffed.

The humans followed the exchange with growing bewilderment. Castiel’s face didn’t give away, if he was feeling anything in particular about getting to know his nephews and niece. Technically, that was what they were, even if they wouldn’t know it, yet.

“They’re his children alright,” Bobby snorted, shaking his head. The family likeness wasn’t very easy to be seen, but let them talk for a while and there was no doubt that they belonged together. The gods clearly weren’t acting like one would have expected from a goddess of the underworld, the great wolf and the world serpent. They were acting like one would expect from Gabriel’s children, however.

“Okay, kiddies, there’s something I ought to tell you,” the archangel began just a little hesitantly. He really didn’t want to do this, but it was high time they learned about their real origin, anyway.

“You’re sleeping with Lucifer’s vessel,” Jörmungandr commented before Gabriel could have said anything.

Sam blinked a couple of times and tried to remember if they had done anything that might have given them away since the three gods had shown up. He came up with nothing, however.

“How-?” the younger Winchester started with a question, but he never got to finish it.

“Your scents are all mixed up,” Fenrir replied with a borderline creepy smile. It probably was hard not to look creepy when you looked like you might turn into a werewolf at full-moon, though.

“We’re okay with it,” Hel stated, looking clearly amused when the younger Winchester seemed embarrassed, “Actually, it figured that something like that would be what got you to join anybody’s side in this mess.”

Gabriel nodded slightly. He wasn’t really surprised. Fenrir and Jörmungandr could tell a lot about a person just by their scent and Hel was very perceptive, if she wanted to be.

“Thanks, kiddies,” the archangel said with a small but genuine smile, “But that’s not what I wanted to tell you and I really need to do this before I tell everyone else.”

Gabriel sighed and then went with a sudden impulse and chose to show them rather than tell them. He had let the pagan side of his powers overtake him completely before, or rather had hidden his angelic powers behind them, so he wouldn’t look any different to the others than they were used to. As soon as he decided that he wanted to reveal himself, his angelic nature pushed the pagan part aside. The bad thing about his two different power sources was that they didn’t mix well. In most things he could only use the one or the other, but not both together.

To the humans it looked like the archangel was stalling and just keeping quiet, but Castiel could see the changes. The angel could not see these things as clearly as he had before he had lost basically all of his powers, but they were still visible to him. Most noticeable were Gabriel’s wings, of course.

Hel, Fenrir and Jörmungandr looked at each other and then at their father with a mixture of being appalled and shocked.

The Winchesters and Bobby didn’t like that one little bit. They were supposed to have another while before things got to the point where someone wanted to tear someone else apart. Well, they all didn’t look violent, but they clearly weren’t happy.

“Oh father…” Hel sighed sadly and averted her eyes.

Jörmungandr hugged his sister with one arm to show his support as he shook his head sadly. “All these years, you lied to us.”

The younger Winchester was quite glad that Gabriel allowed him to put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. He had been worried that he’d be pushed away for a moment. After all, it was their fault that the archangel was in this situation now. Well, actually, it was his own fault for building that second identity and never telling his children, but Sam would understand if he chose to blame them instead.

Just when Gabriel was about to apologize profusely and probably even beg for forgiveness, no matter who was watching, Fenrir laughed out loud. That earned him quite disappointed and annoyed looks from his siblings.

“We were so close to getting him this time!” Hel exclaimed and gave her brother a not too gently pat on the back of his head.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” Fenrir managed between fits of laughter, “I just had to wonder if he tastes like chicken and…”

The great wolf that had been foretold to kill Odin nearly choked on his own tongue when he went on laughing like a madman. His brother joined him in the laughter once he had heard the explanation for it, too.

“Did you really think we had never noticed that we were… different?” Hel asked, looking amused as well.

“You all are…,” Castiel started but then trailed off when he realized he didn’t really have a term for what they were. Well, they were pagan gods for sure, but there was something else about them as well. He understood how his brother had thought that nobody would pick up on it, though.

“Nephilim, Cas, you should know that, I’d think,” Dean stated with a small grin. How often did you get to correct an angel of the Lord about something concerning angels, after all?

“No, they aren’t. Not really,” Castiel replied, “Nephilim are born from a human and a fallen angel…”

“Their mother was a giantess,” Gabriel finished for his brother, “And I’m not your average fallen angel, either.”

The archangel was still a little flabbergasted because of the prank his children had apparently played on him, though. It wouldn’t have worked, if he hadn’t been so worried how they would take his confession, but as things were they had used the circumstances to their advantage and topped it off with perfect timing.

“Oh, you little rascals!” he finally exclaimed and initiated another group-hug, “That was cruel!”

Dean snorted, hearing that. Like the trickster had any right to complain about cruel punishments or pranks! It served him right to be on the receiving end of one for once, if you asked the older Winchester.

“I have taught you well,” Gabriel concluded with some pride in his voice. Yes, as Bobby had put it, they were his children, alright. Well, that meant three gods – archangel-pagan god-giant hybrids, really – were somewhat on their side, at least. If they actually wanted to fight with them would have to be seen.

Maybe, he should have felt differently, but that they accepted him for what he was and weren’t mad at him was the most important thing to Gabriel, even if they decided that they wanted to stay out of the Apocalypse completely.

“Alright, I think we need place cards for when the others show up,” Hel suddenly suggested in a rather cheerful tone, “I can’t wait to see Baldur’s face when he hears of this!”

Sam couldn’t quite share her anticipation.


	30. Chapter 30

** 30 **

 

Everyone who thought that a pagan god get-together sounded like fun should kindly go screw themselves in Dean’s opinion.

The tension in the room was suffocating and the pagan gods gave the humans looks like they wanted to eat them. They quite possibly did, thinking about it. Castiel was lucky that he was rather ignorant of the hostile looks that were shot his way constantly. Yes, that really made the surprise visit of some more angels that was planned for a later point in time look like a really promising idea, too.

Oh, Dean wasn’t surprised that things were going badly. He had expected it. But, even his pessimistic mind hadn’t prepared him for just how uncomfortable being in the situation would feel. Sam and Bobby looked troubled, as well. They were more fascinated by the gods than Dean was and found some distraction in that, though.

“As much as it _pains_ me to admit it,” Baldur spoke up in a rather dramatic tone, “But Loki is right. The Judeo-Christian Apocalypse is a problem we can’t turn a blind eye to.”

A few of the other gods snorted disbelievingly. Kali crossed her arms in front of her chest. Gabriel thought it was nearly too bad that the humans would only see the two arms she had taken over to the form she had chosen, seeing her with six arms crossed made it look funnier.

“Did you – Baldur – just admit that I have a point? Give me a second, I need to savor the moment!” the archangel quipped, looking very pleased with himself.

Most of the gods had some sort of respect for Loki, but mostly for the powers he possessed, and because he had proven that he could play rather mean tricks on basically every single one of them if they proved to be annoying. That didn’t mean they usually valued whatever he had to say too much, though.

“So, we just kill the vessels and be done with it,” Kali remarked coldly. From her point of view there was no need to discuss any of this. If Michael and Lucifer didn’t get their vessels they wouldn’t be able to bring the end of the world upon them all and things could go on as usual.

“Nobody touches a hair on their heads!” Gabriel insisted with so much vigor that Sam thought he could basically feel the raw power flowing from the archangel. He would be lying if he said that this didn’t turn him on a little. Alright, a lot.

Dean was a little surprised that they all kept their distance. He wouldn’t have thought that a command coming from the trickster would carry that much weight.

“Which one is it?” a very pretty, blonde goddess asked Gabriel with a small smile on her lips. Her melodic voice matched her general appearance perfectly. Sam and Bobby had guessed that she might be a goddess dealing with love or lust or both. There were too many to choose from when you had to take every major religion into account, however. Of course, the most obvious choice would be Venus.

Gabriel didn’t answer and simply intertwined his fingers with Sam’s, a small content smile on his lips. The younger Winchester felt as exposed as was possible outside of a dream where he was standing in a public place completely naked. He didn’t think that this had earned them any points with most of the gods, but the blonde goddess looked somewhat pleased.

It was rather nice how Hel, Fenrir and Jörmungandr shot the other seven gods challenging looks, just in case they still wanted to try anything stupid. They clearly had those three on their side, at least.

“Just listen,” Gabriel addressed the room at large. “We can put Lucifer back in his box and y’all won’t even have to do any of the preparation work.”

They had three of the four parts of the key to the cage and they surely would get the fourth with time, but once they opened the portal they would need a lot of manpower to push Lucifer in. That was where the others came in. Gabriel was very sure that the danger to the individual members of the group would be smaller the higher their numbers were. If he had felt like being optimistic, he would have said that none of them had to die. Not even Lucifer!

“And why would we want to do that?” Odin asked, raising his eyebrows, “We are talking about one angel! A powerful one, granted, but still a single angel! Why don’t we just kill him and forego any _preparation work_ for anyone?”

Most of the gods seemed to agree with the father of the Norse gods, which clearly agitated Gabriel.

“Because you can’t!” the archangel exclaimed, “If it were that easy, he wouldn’t be alive today! Don’t you think many have tried to kill him the last time around? And he has only become more powerful since then!”

Castiel nodded along with what his brother had just said. Lucifer clearly was too powerful and too cunning to be taken down in the way Odin had suggested. Castiel already doubted that they would be able to force Lucifer back into his prison without great losses, even if Gabriel seemed to be rather confident that they could.

“You seem to know quite a lot about this, Loki,” Ganesh observed. The question why was clearly implied by his tone of voice.

The moment had had to come at some point and Gabriel was glad that he wasn’t surprising everyone with the confession that would follow. He trusted that his children would make sure that the others didn’t gang up on him immediately.

“That’s because I was there,” the archangel spoke in a completely clear and confident tone that didn’t give away that he didn’t feel all too confident at all.

The humans knew the exact moments when Gabriel unleashed his angelic side by looking at the scandalized faces of the other gods.

“I knew it!” Kali hissed, “There was always something off about you!”

Baldur and Odin, being the ones of the other gods that Loki had been closest to, nodded stoney-faced. They had had their moments of suspicion, but in the end the archangel hadn’t given them a reason to investigate further.

“Point is,” Dean suddenly spoke up which did nothing to appease the gods, either, “He knows what he’s talking about! We’re going to need every helping hand we can get to pull this off!”

Not that the older Winchester liked the prospect of any alliances any more than the pagan gods did. It was quite clear what they thought about working with them only going by the disdainful looks they were giving them. They didn’t even know that they were also supposed to work with some angels yet, either.

“Sorry, we’re late,” a voice with a British accent commented and proved that angels really had an infallible sense of timing, “I do hope it’s still within the range of fashionably late.”

If Bobby had felt that the tension in the room was suffocating before, it was comparable to the vacuum of deep space now. Castiel seemed surprisingly happy – meaning, it was relatively easy to be seen that he was happy – at seeing the six newly arrived angels and especially the one that had just spoken, though.

“Stop being a nuisance, Balthazar,” Caliel reprimanded the other angel with a sigh before she spoke to the room at large, “We are here, because we are willing to follow Gabriel’s plan and we will work with everyone who wants to join us.”

At least, the other angels didn’t look like she had made the speech up on the spot. They all looked like they had agreed on wanting to build a team, even if it included pagan gods, some time before they had come here.

“We all want the same thing and nobody says we can’t hate each other all we want after we stop the Apocalypse,” Gabriel stated rather casually, “But for now we should just put our differences aside. Come on! So, we’ve got wings, but Mercury has some on his other sandals as well!”

Baldur just snorted and none of the other gods did anything to communicate that they were even thinking about the angels’ offer, either.

They would probably have to admit that there was no sense trying to get them into the team and just work with what they had. The archangel had known that most gods were very bad team players, but he had thought they could get some to consider working with them, at least.

The angels felt that something was wrong first, but the gods only took a moment longer. Two of the angels with Caliel panicked and where gone within the blink of an eye. Gabriel couldn’t blame them, even if he had wanted to.

“Everybody leave!” the archangel yelled and all but forced the Winchesters, Bobby and Castiel over to the remaining three angels. Two more had already followed his command and had disappeared. Sometimes Gabriel could really appreciate his siblings’ willingness to follow commands.

“Get them out of here, immediately!” the archangel told the other angels, even as Sam looked at him as if he had gone insane. Right, they weren’t as perceptive as the rest of them were.

“Lucifer is here,” Castiel pointed out for the humans before Gabriel could. Their fallen brother must have been close if he could feel his presence despite Castiel’s very low powers, too.

“You’re coming with us!” the younger Winchester insisted, grabbing the archangel’s arm. Gabriel wasn’t going to go and play hero and get himself killed, not when Sam had anything to say about it!

“I’ll follow you in a minute,” the shorter man replied with a small smile before he pushed his partner against Balthazar rather forcefully and repeated his earlier command, “Go!”

The archangel really wasn’t fond of big heroic deeds and he absolutely didn’t intend to get himself killed here and now or anytime soon really, but he felt responsible for the gods. He had brought them to this place, after all.

“Get the hell out of here!” he yelled once more. From the ten gods only six were around anymore and Gabriel really hoped that the other four had taken his advice and had left. It sounded like at least one of them had been stupid enough to try and take on Lucifer before he reached the big hall where they had held their meeting.

He barely managed to grab Fenrir when the blonde god took off toward the hallway himself.

“No, you don’t!” Gabriel insisted in a harsh tone, “You take your siblings and get them away from this place, you hear me?”

Fenrir looked like he wanted to start a fight with his father for a moment, but then he nodded tightly and took off toward his siblings. He had agreed to follow his father’s plan earlier and if that included abandoning this battle in favor of winning the war, so be it!

The archangel approached the last three pagan gods in a hurry. They really didn’t have long to get their asses to safety now.

“Odin, Ganesh, Venus and Zao Shen are probably dead already! Do you really want to share their fate?” he asked Kali, Baldur and Mercury urgently. He had the sinking feeling that he wasn’t going to get them to leave willingly, though. “Lucifer will kill you all!”

“That’s what happens when you don’t invite all the fairies to your party,” said fallen angel spoke calmly, even though both his hands were covered in blood.

Gabriel’s blood immediately ran cold, but it was definitely too late to run now.

 

* * *

 

 

“Take me back!” Sam yelled at Balthazar immediately after they had reappeared in some apartment none of them recognized. The third angel must have teleported himself elsewhere, at least he was nowhere in sight.

Balthazar just huffed and turned to look into the mini-bar. Like he was going to take Lucifer’s vessel right back to the fallen angel! And more than that, like he was going to go anywhere close to Lucifer, as things were, himself!

“Don’t be stupid, boy,” Bobby commented, trying to put a hand on the younger Winchester’s shoulder soothingly, but Sam moved away from the older hunter before he could.

He just couldn’t stand by and do nothing while another person he loved was killed because of him! There was only so much a person could stand and this felt like Sam’s breaking point to him.

“Lucifer will kill him!” the younger Winchester spoke to Caliel this time, “You know he will!”

The way the angel wouldn’t meet his eyes spoke volumes. She too thought that Gabriel wouldn’t survive and the thought pained her, as well.

“Don’t you dare even think of taking him back!” Dean immediately insisted.

Even if Sam hadn’t been Lucifer’s intended vessel, the older Winchester would have never allowed for this to happen. He understood why his brother wanted to get back to the place they had just left in a hurry, but that only meant that he would have to be the voice of reason speaking against Sam’s very emotion-driven impulse.

Caliel finally looked back at the younger Winchester. They might not have known each other for long or very well, but that very moment they both understood that there were certain things they shared.

The female angel nodded ever so slightly.

Dean was just about to yell at her when she disappeared into thin air and left Sam standing.

“This calls for drinks for everyone,” Balthazar commented and earned himself a couple of glares because of the casual, nearly cheerful, tone he had just used.

“Make that a double,” Sam muttered miserably.


	31. Chapter 31

** 31 **

 

Mercury was nothing more than a blood splatter on the floor before any of the remaining gods even thought about attacking Lucifer.

As much as he loathed himself for it, Gabriel was petrified. All of this should not have happened! He had had a plan, a plan that should get them all out of the Apocalypse alive! Now a couple of his friends were dead already and he wouldn’t bet on the rest of them surviving, either.

“Leave them alone, Lucifer,” the archangel spoke in a tone that did not betray his panicky thoughts, “It’s not like they’re a threat to you!”

To emphasize his point, Gabriel grabbed his angel blade and held it in front of himself defensively. It most surely was a damn stupid move on his part, but maybe he would get Kali and Baldur out of the room alive that way. Damn, the archangel really hated the thought of becoming a martyr. Martyrs might be some sort of heroes, but they were dead heroes!

Lucifer nodded slightly, acknowledging what his brother had just said, “But they are pests, Gabriel, and pests need to be dealt with.”

The way his brother spoke had sometimes given Gabriel the creeps even before he had fallen. If anything, it had become worse over time.

Apparently, Baldur and Kali had made a very rash decision while the two archangels were talking. They both didn’t even get enough time to regret charging Lucifer together before the fallen angel ripped their hearts from their chests and let their dead bodies fall to the floor.

“Quite disappointing for someone called a destroyer,” Lucifer commented casually as he stepped over Kali’s legs and moved toward Gabriel.

The shorter angel gripped his blade tighter, even though he knew that it wouldn’t help him much, in the end. Lucifer was more powerful, better at combat and much more used to doing such things than Gabriel was in general. Maybe if he had had a chance to come up with a plan. Maybe if he hadn’t been caught by surprise. Maybe… Who was he kidding? He had explained to the Winchesters why he couldn’t win against Lucifer on his own not too long ago and it was as true now as it had been then!

“It doesn’t have to end this way,” the taller angel spoke again quite casually, nearly charmingly, “We don’t have to fight.”

The shorter archangel remembered a time when he might even have accepted the offer that was clearly hidden in Lucifer’s words. But he was no longer on his own and he had others to think about. He had Sam to think about. And he wouldn’t let the gentle giant of a human down!

“Oh, you’re going to step aside, so I can leave?” Gabriel replied sarcastically. That was the only option he could see that wouldn’t require for them to engage in a physical confrontation.

“Your jokes used to be better,” Lucifer commented, shaking his head slightly, disappointed, “Gabriel, Gabriel, Gabriel, I could respect your decision to stay out of the fight completely, but I can’t have you working with Michael.”

“Oh please, who’s working with Michael? Mikey can go screw himself just as much as you can!” the shorter angel replied with a snort before he added mockingly, “Or maybe you should just screw each other. It’s supposed to work wonders against frustration!”

Yes, the mental picture he had just provoked made Gabriel cringe. He sort of understood why Dean didn’t like to picture his brother in that sort of situation, really. It was only made worse by the fact that Michael and Lucifer not only were brothers like all angels technically were, they also had always acted just like brothers, as well.

The fallen angel sighed sadly, but finally drew his blade. He couldn’t remember ever seeing his brother this determined. If Gabriel had made his choice, he would have to live with the consequences.

“I am sorry, brother,” Lucifer said before he attacked the other archangel with a quick and precise blow.

Gabriel managed to parry easily enough, but he wasn’t fooling himself into believing that this was all his brother had in him.

“No, you’re not,” he managed between dodging attacks, “To be sorry you’d have to either have a conscience or a basic understanding that you are not infallible!”

Maybe the fallen angel didn’t take too much joy from the fight and maybe he really would have left Gabriel alive and uninjured, if he had gotten his will, but there was no chance that he was genuinely sorry for what he was about to do.

A small, nearly apologetic smile made it to Lucifer’s expression as he knocked the blade out of his brother’s hand and pointed the tip of his own weapon against Gabriel’s throat.

“I might still miss you, though,” the fallen angel stated nonchalantly, “You always were one of the more entertaining ones.”

A part of Gabriel – the part that wasn’t currently panicking with the prospect of dying – was sort of glad that he wouldn’t have to kill his brother, as illogical as it might be. A part of him – most surely the very same part – still loved Lucifer for what he had once been. He had even thought that Lucifer might have some brotherly affection for him still, but in the end the fallen angel would never understand love completely. At least not the unconditional part that made love all the more precious.

“Sam Winchester will never give you his consent, if you kill Gabriel!” Caliel suddenly interjected, standing a couple of feet away from the other two angels, “You know me, Lucifer. I wouldn’t lie to you, not even to safe his life!”

The fallen angel seemed to consider this for a moment before he very quickly threw Gabriel against the closest wall and pinned one of his brother’s wings to it with his blade.

The smaller angel’s outcry of pure agony made the female flinch. At least, it wasn’t a deadly wound, though.

“Now that we can talk uninterrupted,” Lucifer spoke, staring at his sister intently, “Explain yourself!”

Gabriel wanted to yell that she should not say a thing more, but the overwhelming pain radiating from his wing to his entire being wouldn’t let him. He really didn’t want Sam to be brought into this, however. He didn’t want for Lucifer to get the idea that he might use the smaller angel to get to the younger Winchester. He would rather die than play a part in Sam giving in to his brother! But it didn’t look like he would be given a say in this, anyway.

“They love each other,” Caliel said silently as her eyes were drawn over to the trapped angel again and again. She knew that the smaller one of the two archangels would not have wanted Lucifer to know this, but she had seen no other option to keep the fallen angel from simply killing him.

The obvious conclusion that Sam’s determination never to give in to the devil would only grow much stronger if Gabriel died by Lucifer’s hand, remained unspoken.

“It seems I have to thank you,” the fallen angel stated appreciatively, looking at his sister with a nearly soft expression, “And I remember that you were on the fence all those years ago.”

“Only because both options were nearly equally bad,” she replied with the confidence of someone who had accepted that death was the only option from this point on.

“I will find consolation in the fact that you chose this yourself,” Lucifer said sadly before he took Gabriel’s blade and ran his sister through with it, holding her against him for a few more moments.

Gabriel didn’t want to look. He wanted to avert his eyes and just pretend this hadn’t just happened. But Caliel was looking his way, a small forgiving smile on her lips. If she could find it in herself to give him that in her dying moments then he could at least honor the gesture and the angel it came from by watching every last second of it.

Lucifer finally let her body fall to the ground and despite his earlier resolution the smaller angel closed his eyes before Caliel’s light burned out of her body and the lifeless vessel was left lying with two outstretched ashen wings on either side of it.

“Well, well, Gabriel, you and my vessel. I nearly feel… violated,” Lucifer addressed his brother, clicking his tongue while he walked back to the wall he had pinned the smaller angel to.

For once in his existence, Gabriel didn’t have any witty or sarcastic comments to give.

 

* * *

 

 

As it turned out, the place they had been brought to was one of Gabriel’s apartments he kept at various parts of the world. That meant they were in a place that was well stacked with all things sweet, but looked like it might have been one of the questionable motel rooms they usually stayed in otherwise. The archangel clearly had his priorities. Or the seventies simply had been the decade Gabriel had enjoyed the most.

Actually, if Sam thought about it, the apartment fit the archangel, but he was trying very hard not to think about that or anything else connected to the man.

Out of the five people present, Balthazar was the one that seemed the least concerned with everything. Even Castiel looked worried. It was questionable that the angel fully understood that it was the generally accepted emotion in a situation like the one they were in, so he was most certainly just showing his honest feelings, too.

“It’s been much too long!” Sam suddenly exclaimed and knocked over the chair he had been sitting in when he stood up abruptly, “They’re both dead!”

Dean and Bobby looked at each other alarmed, but neither one of them had any real comfort for the younger Winchester. It seemed likely that Sam was right with his assessment of the fate of the two missing angels. Saying otherwise would only come back to bite them in the ass once it became clear that they really were dead.

“Come on, if there’s anything Gabriel is good at, it’s surviving,” Balthazar commented with a shrug, “And he’s not the brother Lucifer wants to kill the most, so that’s something.”

Granted, it wasn’t much, but it was still something.

Maybe, a few hours ago, the angel’s statement might have made Sam feel slightly better. As things were, the younger Winchester just slumped against the wall.

“Get us out of here, at least,” he requested weakly. He wouldn’t feel much better at a different location, but maybe he wouldn’t feel Gabriel’s presence – or rather his absence – quite this much in a place that wasn’t his.

Balthazar considered the request for a moment before he shrugged. “I can do that. Where to?”

There really was only one place that was a constant in all their lives and they all could agree that it should be safe enough. Hell, if they couldn’t go back to Bobby’s place, they had nowhere to go.

Standing in Bobby’s living room didn’t make Sam feel any better, though. Of course, he had known that the sort of heartache he was experiencing wouldn’t go away anytime soon. Hell, it never went away fully.

“Sammy-,” Dean tried before a gesture from his brother stopped him.

“Don’t,” Sam replied sharply, “Just don’t!”

Things had to be really bad when Sam Winchester didn’t want to talk about them. For the moment, the others could just respect his wishes and keep quiet, however.

The older Winchester wondered how long they’d have to watch his brother stare out of the window as if he expected their missing friends, especially the annoying archangel, to walk up the driveway any moment before it was time to force him to snap out of it, though.

Whatever the correct answer to that question would have been, they didn’t have to wait for the time to come, because Castiel suddenly perked up.

“It is Gabriel,” he told the others, especially Balthazar, urgently, “He seems to be wounded.”

The archangel had contacted his brother through the tag he had put on Castiel when he had first started to follow the Winchesters, but there was no clear message or even a very strong signal, it still was there, though.

Sam really tried not to put any hopes into those news, but he couldn’t quite help it, anyway. The younger Winchester knew it was useless, but he still sent a quick prayer to a god he knew wasn’t listening.

“What are you waiting for?” Dean snapped at Balthazar, because the angel didn’t seem to realize that he was the only one of them who could answer that call.

“It might be a trap, I’m not going back there!” the angel replied vehemently.

It wasn’t like he was a coward and completely unwilling to risk anything. He had been convinced to join team free will easily enough and that was very risky, after all. He wouldn’t put his life on the line for nothing, though.

“You’ll get your ass into gear and get the angelic douchebag back to us, or I’ll heat up the holy oil and fry you extra-crispy!” the older Winchester threatened completely seriously.

Sam nodded his agreement and that was only one of the things that would be done to the angel if anything happened to Gabriel, because he refused to go and help him!

Balthazar did not look impressed with the threat, but at an insistent look from Castiel he finally sighed loudly and disappeared in a flutter of wings, idly wondering who they would take their anger out on if he, too, did not come back.


	32. Chapter 32

** 32 **

 

Balthazar arrived back at the old hotel where they had held their meeting in a fighting stance and with his angel blade drawn. Hey, if he had to die, he would do it fighting and looking badass! Even if anybody who was going to see it wasn’t going to talk about it.

The first thing – other than Lucifer’s absence – he noticed was Caliel’s dead body. It was painfully obvious that there was nothing anybody could do for her anymore.

From the first impression, Balthazar would have been tempted to assume that the same was true for Gabriel. It took a closer inspection to notice that the archangel was still alive.

“I’m sorry, pal,” the angel stated and grabbed the angel blade that still pinned one of Gabriel’s wings to the wall, “This will hurt.”

Apparently, Balthazar hadn’t been exaggerating, because the removal of the blade made the seemingly unconscious archangel screech in a way that broke the last few pieces of glass that had still been whole before. On the positive side, both of Gabriel’s wings got to retract completely and with enough time Balthazar was rather sure that the wounds would heal.

The angel was rather grateful that he wouldn’t actually have to move the archangel after this. The guy looked like hell, as things were, he really wouldn’t have wanted to add any further discomfort.

“We’ll have you back with your moose of a boyfriend in a second,” Balthazar promised, even though he wasn’t sure if the archangel would even understand a word of what he was saying.

The angel with the British accent touched his brother’s shoulder gently and brought them both back to Bobby Singer’s house.

The humans seemed more surprised to see him back this quickly and without injuries than they should have been. Balthazar nearly felt insulted. He did not get to complain, because Sam immediately started to fuss over Gabriel, though.

The younger Winchester very carefully held the archangel, trying only to touch uninjured parts of his body, but it didn’t look like there were too many.

“How do we help him?” Bobby asked, scratching the side of his head. Okay, the body was human, but the being inside wasn’t. The older hunter just wasn’t sure which rules applied to a case like this.

“Oh, he’s healing by himself, only not very quickly right now,” Balthazar commented rather casually. He had done his job, he had gotten Gabriel back and the archangel wasn’t going to die on them. In fact, given the time, he would surely make a full recovery. Everything else would have to be seen, but to be quite honest, it wasn’t really of Balthazar’s concern. Sure, he liked the archangel well enough, but they weren’t best buddies or anything. Also, it didn’t look like Sam would even dream about letting go of Gabriel anytime soon.

Dean simply nodded. He was content enough with that answer.

“Get him upstairs and let him rest then,” Bobby suggested and the younger Winchester agreed.

Sam very carefully picked Gabriel up to bring him to the guest-room. The archangel moaned quietly, but remained unresponsive otherwise.

“Alright, are we sure he’s not some sort of Trojan horse?” Dean asked once his brother was well out of earshot. He just knew Sam would not have reacted well to the question, but he felt it was very justified to wonder about that.

“You really think I haven’t checked?” Balthazar snorted. Of course, he had taken the time to make as sure as he could that this was not just some trap set by Lucifer!

“What happened to Caliel?” Castiel spoke with a small frown.

The question was answered by a simple look from the other angel. It had been expected, but that didn’t mean that Castiel didn’t feel the loss.

“Then why leave Gabriel alive?” the older Winchester wondered. Okay, so, he was grateful that the archangel was alive, if only – or mostly – for Sam’s sake, but it still didn’t make much sense that Lucifer would spare him.

“Well, there was _this_ ,” Balthazar replied and produced a piece of paper for Dean and the others to look at. He had removed it from Gabriel’s person before he had brought the archangel back to the rest of the team, because he had figured that this was something that needed the right timing.

Even if he was already starting to regret it, the angel had put his money on team free will, so he wouldn’t do anything that might damage them.

“A little present to show my appreciation of your person. If you wish to thank me, just say the word,” the older Winchester read out loud and then added a very heartfelt, “Son of a bitch!”

Castiel looked deep in thought for a second. “So, Lucifer wishes to instill a certain gratefulness in Sam,” the angel concluded.

“Yeah, well, it won’t work!” Dean stated with vigor and took the note from Balthazar, scrunched it up and threw it into the fireplace.

 

* * *

 

 

In the guest room Sam had laid Gabriel on the bed very carefully and had tried to get the archangel into a position that would be as comfortable as possible. It was rather hard to judge how comfortable an unresponsive person was, though.

Well, there were no more pained noises, which was something, the younger Winchester supposed.

Sam stroked Gabriel’s hair for a few moments before he went to the bathroom to get something to clean the archangel’s body with. As much as he was just glad to have him back, he couldn’t stand to see the bloodstains and he thought that Gabriel would be more comfortable once and blood and dirt were removed, too.

The younger Winchester returned to the room with a towel, a bowl of water and some bandages. Even if the physical wounds to his vessel wouldn’t kill Gabriel, dressing them up like he would with Dean was the only thing that felt right.

Sam started with wiping the archangel’s face and then placed a soft kiss against his forehead.

“I love you,” the taller man whispered. He had meant to say something like ‘Don’t ever do something like this to me again!’, but he knew that wasn’t very realistic in the situation they were in. There would always be hairy situations and they would always have to make very hard decisions not everyone would agree on.

Maybe he should have asked Balthazar to clean the archangel up, but it was too late for that now. Sam wasn’t going to leave his partner’s side and something in him bristled at the very thought of bringing someone else into this altogether.

It took a lot of work and carefulness to get Gabriel out of his jacket and shirt without moving him all too much. In the end Sam decided to just cut the undershirt off, it wasn’t like the archangel couldn’t snap a new one into existence once he was healed again.

The younger Winchester opted to leave the smaller cuts and bruises alone. He had enough to work on when he only concentrated on the major ones, anyway. There was an especially vicious looking wound where Lucifer must have stabbed Gabriel in the side. Sam felt a wave of gratefulness about the fact that his partner wasn’t human. A human would have bled dry or died from the wounds inflicted on their body, for sure.

The water in the bowl was a pinkish color Sam hated for knowing where it had come from by the time he was done with cleaning all the wounds and reached for the bandages. He had just finished putting tape on the gauze that covered the largest injury when the younger Winchester more felt than saw eyes on him.

“Hey,” he sighed relieved and was actually close to laughing just from feeling the very heavy weight that had been holding him down in the past hours being lifted from him.

Gabriel’s lips curved upward ever so slightly. He tried to move instantly, however.

“No, you don’t!” Sam insisted and held the other man down by his shoulders. He was pretty sure that people who had only just woken up from being unconscious weren’t supposed to run around immediately afterward. At least not if they were still hurt.

“M’ back hurts,” Gabriel mumbled, sounding rather groggy.

The younger Winchester nodded and helped the archangel to roll over onto his uninjured side.

“I didn’t see any injuries on your back,” he mused.

He had done a rather thorough examination of his boyfriend’s upper body before just to make sure he wouldn’t miss anything. Apparently, he had still overlooked something.

“Mhm, you wouldn’t,” Gabriel replied with a soft sigh.

Actually, he just wanted the taller man to stop fussing about him and do more cuddling or something like that, but he felt he didn’t have the words to express that wish, for the moment being.

“Your wings?” Sam asked with a small frown, “I thought they were stored away in another dimension or something.”

Also, how the hell was he supposed to treat a wound he couldn’t even see?

“Sort of, kind of, but they still interact...,” the archangel trailed off tiredly, “It’s complicated.”

The younger Winchester just nodded and didn’t inquire further. This wasn’t the time to get information about things like that. Instead he opened the button on Gabriel’s jeans and pulled the zipper down.

“Uh, you know me, Sammybear, anytime, but-,” the archangel started in an ever so slightly amused tone before the human stopped him with a look.

“Just getting you more comfortable, little pervert,” the human shot back with a snort. Yeah, right, like this could have ever been about anything else.

Gabriel’s legs were mercilessly uninjured and so getting his pants off didn’t do any damage and only caused minimal discomfort.

“Okay, what do I do about your wings?” Sam asked once he had put the jeans aside. There had to be something he could do. If he couldn’t look at them then maybe he could somehow be allowed to feel them.

“Nothing. They’ll heal with time,” Gabriel replied with one of the things the younger Winchester really hadn’t wanted to hear, “Just… c’mere.”

Well, that was something he could do, at least.

The younger Winchester lay down next to his partner, careful not to hurt him in any way and pulled the blanket over them. He at least always felt better when he was bundled up in a cozy blanket if he was sick or injured.

Gabriel cuddled up to the taller man with some difficulties, but pretty much instantly, anyway. This, right here, was why he was nothing but grateful to be alive, even if his very being hurt like a bitch.

“I’m so glad to have you back,” Sam sighed and leaned in to capture the archangel’s lips in a soft kiss.

“Glad to be back,” Gabriel smiled slightly and snuggled up to the human some more, slight additional physical aches be damned. He needed the reassurance that the closeness gave him much more than he needed to be completely free from any more pain. Compared to what it had been like when Lucifer had still not been finished with him, he was pretty well off, already.

“Gabe, what happened back there?” the younger Winchester asked in a soft tone after they had both completely settled in.

“Oh, it’s Gabe now?” the archangel evaded the question not very artfully as he had to admit.

“You don’t want to talk about it,” Sam concluded running his fingers through Gabriel’s hair soothingly. Hell, whatever had happened couldn’t have been pleasant, so he understood his partner’s avoidance of the topic. It helped that he had been living with a guy who never wanted to talk about anything for the past years. Okay, Dean talked about a lot of things, but never when they were hurtful to him, not voluntarily, anyway.

“He killed them all,” Gabriel whispered against Sam’s chest, “’nd I didn’t…”

For Pete’s sake, if only he hadn’t been this drained, he could have dealt with everything. He just knew he would be able to – sort of – laugh it off usually. He wouldn’t go and blame himself for not doing something he had always said he couldn’t do anyway, at the very least.

“You got us out,” the younger Winchester pointed out hopefully helpfully.

“My kids got away, too,” Gabriel added after a short moment of consideration.

Of course, that didn’t make everything else okay, but it gave a slightly different perspective to the entire story.

“That’s good, they’re great,” Sam replied with a small, slightly awkward smile. He couldn’t and wouldn’t blame the archangel for not telling him that he had kids in the first place when all the younger Winchester would have had to do would have been asking if any of the myths about them were true. He wouldn’t give Gabriel hell for anything as long as he wasn’t completely okay again, period.

“They love you, too,” the archangel gladly took the changed topic and went with it, “You should have seen the pranks they all played on… Kali when…”

Sam forced a slight chuckle that didn’t even sound convincing to himself. “I’m sure that was fun.”

Gabriel nodded slightly and leaned his head against the crook of his partner’s neck.

“’M tired,” the smaller man mumbled and sneaked his one arm around the younger Winchester in an unspoken plea to just stay close, not that Sam would have left in the first place.

“Yeah, you just rest,” the human stated, holding Gabriel close in turn, “Things will look… different tomorrow.”

That, at least, was very likely to be true. Who knew if they’d get a phase where things were looking up after this? But something was always changing… and sometimes the changes weren’t even all bad.


	33. Chapter 33

** 33 **

 

“I’m telling you, I saw Mr. Macho put a blanket over Castiel’s sleeping body just the other day,” Balthazar chuckled, “You missed quite a few funny things when you were holed up with your giant.”

Gabriel just laughed and let his legs dangle off Bobby Singer’s roof. It wasn’t like the angels would fall down from there in the first place and even if they did, it wouldn’t hurt them any, plus the view was quite nice.

“I’d have liked to see that,” the archangel admitted before he grinned mischievously, “But I surely wouldn’t have wanted to miss any of the things that happened while I was holed up with my _gentle_ giant, either.”

Okay, nothing much had happened. Sam had this stupid idea about physical exertion not being helpful with the healing process. Well, he had given in and changed the rule to ‘too much physical exertion’ after two days. Yes, Lucifer really knew how to do damage that would take longer to heal to other angels. Gabriel still wasn’t on the height of his powers again but he definitely was healthy enough to do everything the average angel – like Balthazar – could do as well.

“So, what do we do now?” Balthazar finally asked. Apparently, they had done enough polite small-talk to warrant getting to the point.

“I wish, I knew,” Gabriel replied with a shrug, “We can still get the key to open the cage, but there’s no way we’ll get Lucifer into it.”

Well, there was no way that anybody would follow one of the archangel’s plans anymore.

“Where does all that positive thinking come from suddenly?” Balthazar quipped, though he knew the answer to that question as much as all the others did.

Gabriel just huffed and stared into the sunset some more. He really didn’t appreciate stupid questions concerning this particular topic.

“Your boy toy says you’re staring into space a lot lately,” the other angel stated casually, “And for some reason, he asked me to talk to you.”

That snapped the archangel out of it and he stared at Balthazar disbelievingly, a question clearly written all over his face. The other angel just shrugged. Like he knew why Sam had thought that he would be qualified for this. Okay, he hadn’t had many people to choose from and out of the two that liked Gabriel the most, he was the one who knew how to express and understand feelings.

“I failed, Balthazar, my plan failed and now I’ve got nothing new to offer,” the archangel shrugged, trying and failing to look completely casual while doing so.

“There are still people who count on you and would follow you,” the other angel pointed out.

For all he knew there were at least three suicidal humans, one as good as human angel, he himself and at least three pagan gods.

“They shouldn’t!” Gabriel stated definitely, “Nobody should!”

Alright, maybe he was just sick of having any sort of responsibility for the lives of others. He shouldn’t have that sort of power over anyone, anyway! Okay, he could handle himself and he probably could handle keeping Sam safe with him, but everything more than that seemed just to be asking too much.

“I haven’t liked the management upstairs for a long time,” Balthazar suddenly stated, sitting next to his brother at the edge of the roof, “Not that downstairs is any better. If you think about it, it’s like the political landscape around here. Two big options to choose from, both are pretty bad, but choose a third and you’re the guaranteed loser.”

After all, angels who chose to fall the way that Anna had the first time around were hunted by pretty much everyone with basically no one to protect them.

“And then, just another day in paradise, Caliel walks up to me and says that she’s got a third option she at least believes in with all her heart,” Balthazar continued, noticing how Gabriel cringed at the mention of the female angel’s name, “It was rather touching, honestly. She really carried a torch for you.”

The archangel chuckled after hearing that. To tell the truth, he had never been quite sure if she – or, back in the day, he – had seen him as someone to worship, or as someone to love. Probably a bit of both, not that he had deserved either.

“Michael and Lucifer, they are both obsessed with the Apocalypse. It’s their big show, their destiny and they insist on going by the script,” the other angel went on, “You have proven that you can adapt to new circumstances and you can change your goals, if the situation calls for it… Do I need to go on? I feel like a dirty kiss-ass!”

Both angels looked at each other for a couple of moments before they just laughed.

It really had to be hard for Balthazar to recite the words of someone who had had a crush on Gabriel to his face. The archangel could appreciate both the gesture and that Caliel had said those things in the first place, though.

“Okay, know what? We’ll just go and get a ring off the finger of the Grim Reaper himself and after that we’ll consider the next step,” Gabriel concluded and stood up, “Thanks, bro. I’d hug you, but after your little speech I’m a little worried that it might send the wrong signals. I’m a happily taken man.”

So, maybe that had been uncalled for, but he had just felt the impulse to tease the other angel just for the heck of it. Sam might have liked to hear that, actually. The tall human really had been worried about him and his darker mood. He really should go and use some of the more upbeat mood he was in on his partner!

“How is that that I always come out the stupid one when I’m just trying to help people around here?” Balthazar huffed indignantly.

He didn’t see anybody treat Castiel or Gabriel as their personal errant-boys and then not even thank them when they returned successfully.

“I have no idea,” the archangel shrugged, “Must be the accent.”

 

 

“What brought this on?” Sam managed to ask when Gabriel finally released his lips and pushed the taller male against the closest wall of Bobby’s guest room.

Despite his slight confusion, the younger Winchester helped with the removal of his shirt and undershirt. The archangel made a pleased noise deep in his throat and leaned in to press strategically places kisses to the other man’s chest.

“I love you,” Gabriel answered between kisses and let his partner push his shirt off his shoulders, as well.

“I really want to know what you and Balthazar talked about now,” Sam chuckled and put his hands on the archangel’s waist, tracing the outline of the wounds that used to be there absentmindedly.

The human had realized that there was at least one more thing he applied double-standards to over the course of the past few days. He didn’t mind the scars on his own body. They told stories of hunts gone wrong, getting out of dodge barely in time, protecting other people and things like that. But he found, that he was insanely glad that Gabriel didn’t scar. His wounds had healed up without leaving marks and the younger Winchester preferred it that way. Not because he would have thought the other man any less handsome if they had stayed, but because he didn’t want anything to permanently tell the story of how the archangel got hurt.

“You’re still much too coherent,” Gabriel grinned against Sam’s chest and pressed up against him as much as possible. That alone usually kept the younger Winchester from having any deep thoughts that weren’t connected to his partner. Well, if you wanted to describe the things going through his mind as deep, to begin with.

Sam gave the archangel a fond, dimpled smile and cupped his face before he kissed him deeply.

And they could have had such a good time, if it weren’t for the highly distracting and also worrying noises coming from outside all of a sudden.

“Dean!” Castiel called just before there were hurried footsteps on the gravel of Bobby’s driveway.

The older hunter had gone on a food-run earlier and had not yet returned for all Sam knew. Alright, so maybe he hadn’t been paying attention to everything in the past minutes, but he was pretty sure he would have noticed if any cars would have driven up to the house.

“Dean!” Castiel shouted again, more urgently.

A rather deep growl was coming from Gabriel before he snapped his fingers and had them both completely dressed again that way.

“Our brothers better have a damn good reason for this!” he stated more than just a little frustrated.

Sam found he agreed with the archangel there, but the constantly worrying part of his mind overthrew all other thoughts when he heard the Impala’s door being opened and then closed again. That could hardly be a good sign!

It was rather confusing to be at one place at one moment and then change locations within the blink of an eye, but it was a rather practical method of transportation when you really needed to be somewhere quickly.

The older Winchester had just been about to start his car and go only god knew where, but apparently Gabriel had done something to prevent that from happening, too. Alright, Dean hitting the steering wheel in frustration might have been due to his anger about someone messing with his baby, but something had been going on even before that had happened, obviously.

“What the hell, Dean?” Sam asked immediately after he had opened the car door and taken a good look at his brother’s stoney-faced expression. Oh yes, something was going on here!

“Why did that conversation upset you this much?” Castiel, who had taken his place next to Sam and Gabriel, asked.

That confused the younger Winchester for good. If there had been an argument between Dean and Castiel or Dean and Balthazar or anybody really, he would have heard it. Gabriel was very distracting, but they hadn’t been at the point where the human didn’t notice anything around him anymore, yet.

“What conversation?” the younger Winchester demanded to know.

“None of your concern,” Dean snapped and pointed an accusing finger at the archangel, “And you get my baby back into working order this instant!”

Ignoring the older Winchester as much as they all did might not have been the best idea, but it wasn’t possible to have a calm and reasonable conversation with him as things were, anyway.

“Dean has been on the telephone when he started to show signs of intense agitation and ran outside,” Castiel explained matter-of-factly. The angel had clearly seen the signs for a very rash action and had taken chase.

“What was that call about?” the younger Winchester asked with a frown. He was trying but failing to come up with a likely explanation himself. There just wasn’t enough information for an educated guess, however.

“Repair my car!” Dean demanded again, ignoring the other two. If they could completely disregard what he was saying, he could do the same!

“I don’t think so Dean-o,” Gabriel shrugged, “I enjoy your brother’s nightly presence too much to risk losing it.”

The older Winchester didn’t even show any reaction to the mention of anything Sam and the archangel might be doing together which again showed that something was wrong with him.

“You’re freaking me out, man,” the younger Winchester said, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder and feeling him tense up for a second before he dropped his forehead against the steering wheel.

There was a rather long moment of silence before Dean spoke, “Lisa called. They have Ben.”

The angels didn’t know who the older Winchester was talking about, but Sam did. It really explained a lot about the situation, too. Dean clearly held a special place in his heart for Lisa and Ben, even if he hadn’t seen them in quite some time.

“Who?” Sam asked, though he had the sinking feeling that he knew the answer to that question already. One side wanted to have Dean much more desperately than the other one, after all.

“Zachariah,” the older Winchester answered silently.

It was easy to be seen that he was very worried. Sam couldn’t blame him, either. Zachariah was one sadistic bastard. People who didn’t know about the true nature of angels would have surely pegged him to be a demon. Hell, the guy was giving Lucifer a run for his money sometimes!

“Okay,” Sam replied with a decisive nod, “You don’t drive, move over!”

There was no way they would leave the boy with the crazy angel, but there also was no way that Dean was going to face the guy who would do everything to make him say yes to Michael on his own.

The older Winchester didn’t put up a fight, which again was worrying but understandable.

“Everyone who wants to come, better get into the car right now,” the younger Winchester told the two angels. It wasn’t surprising that both of them immediately got into the Impala, too.

Gabriel might have been able to just zap them over to Lisa’s place, but he wasn’t back on the height of his powers going by his own estimation. Sam took that to mean that he was feeling rather weak, though.

But most importantly…

“We’ve got a couple of hours to come up with a good plan,” the younger Winchester stated as he threw the Impala into gear.


	34. Chapter 34

** 34 **

 

Gabriel was looking at a couple of pictures Lisa had standing around the living room while the woman told the story of how her son had been kidnapped by Zachariah. They did look like a cute family, he had to admit. She clearly loved her son and the kid looked nice, too. Unfortunately, he looked a little familiar as well, though.

“Is Ben your son?” the archangel asked the older Winchester, interrupting Lisa in the process. The woman didn’t really have anything to say that they hadn’t figured out for themselves earlier already, though. Zachariah had shown up, grabbed the boy and told his mother to call Dean to come as quickly as possible if she ever wanted to see him again.

“No,” the older Winchester shook his head, but looked over to Lisa a little unsure, anyway. She had told him that Ben was not his son clearly, but there had to be a reason why the archangel thought the question was this important, as well. Okay, he didn’t think too highly of Gabriel usually, but the little bastard often had a point, he had to admit.

“This is important,” the archangel stressed, looking at Lisa this time, “Is Ben his son?”

The realization dawned on Castiel first, but he kept quiet, waiting for the woman’s answer.

Lisa looked very uncomfortable and averted her eyes before she answered, “I honestly don’t know.”

Dean’s expression was impossible to read at that point. When he had asked her, she had lied to him and said that she knew for a fact that he wasn’t the father. The older Winchester couldn’t really blame her for that, though. Hell, he wouldn’t have been able to be a real father to Ben, anyway. The most the boy could have expected was something like John Winchester had done with Adam Milligan and Dean couldn’t say that he would have wanted to do that to Ben. Having a father and at the same time not having one.

“If the boy shares your bloodline then he is a possible vessel,” Castiel spoke and made the older Winchester cringe with it. Gabriel just nodded, though. That was exactly what he had been thinking about. Sam too looked very uncomfortable at the thought.

“My son is what?” Lisa asked clearly upset and very confused.

“The short version?” the archangel asked before he went on talking, anyway, “If angels want to walk the Earth they need a human vessel. You’re seeing a 7th century Saxon and a salesman from Illinois in front of you.”

Granted, Castiel still looked the part and the little detail about his vessel didn’t say that he was anything but human, either. A Saxon from the 7th century still walking around surely was more impressive in that respect.

The archangel just had to give Lisa credit for neither fainting nor screaming hysterical.

“You’re saying that some angel wants to use my son as a… a…,” the woman replied, sounding clearly upset. How was it that every time Dean showed up their lives took a turn for the completely absurd? Hell, if somebody else had told her a story like that, Lisa would have suggested a good shrink and some heavy medication!

“No,” Dean stated with every ounce of conviction he could muster up in his voice, “They don’t really want Ben and they won’t get him, anyway!”

After all, what was this entire one true vessel crap about if he could be replaced as easily as that? Zachariah was bluffing, the older Winchester was sure. Of course, that didn’t mean that Ben wasn’t in any danger whatsoever.

“What the hell is all this about, Dean?” Lisa asked clearly demanding an answer.

While the older Winchester gave her a short rundown on their situation, Sam stood next to Gabriel.

“Could they actually replace Dean with Ben?” he asked in a very quiet tone. If the possibility existed then he wanted to know. Not that he would ever even dream of sacrificing the boy or anything alike. If there was a chance that Michael might possess Ben, or had already possessed him, they should be prepared for it, though.

“If he really is his son, yeah, it wouldn’t be ideal, but it is possible,” Gabriel answered.

The younger Winchester had never been this glad that he didn’t have any children. Okay, he didn’t want to have any with the life they were living in the first place, but Lucifer harassing any hypothetical children would really take the cake. The fallen angel would absolutely be capable of doing something like that, too.

“He’s just a kid,” Sam mumbled, shaking his head slightly. Really, he would have thought even Zachariah would draw a line at going after pre-teens, but apparently he had given the sadistic angel too much credit.

“That doesn’t mean anything. His soul would be just as strong as any adult’s,” Gabriel shrugged, but he stepped closer to his partner and intertwined their fingers as a soothing gesture, “Dean’s right though, they don’t really want Ben. He should be safe for now.”

Knowing that something was a trap but having to set it off anyway, was a damn bad feeling by its own merits, though.

The more she learned about the situation the more Lisa got upset, but nobody could blame her for that. It was a lot to take in and she was nearly out of her mind with worries about her son, as well. The more time passed, the worse her mood got.

The archangel would be lying if he said that the thought of simply knocking Lisa out cold hadn’t crossed his mind at least once. It seemed like a merciful thing to do.

Besides, Gabriel had never been overly fond of women when they got agitated, he had to admit. Alright, there might be something cute about a damsel in distress and they could be very grateful when they got rescued, but a lot of women just got very bitchy. Okay, men were basically as prone to that sort of behavior as women were, they just would never admit it.

It was good that Zachariah seemed to be in a hurry to get this over with, anyway. This again showed that he wasn’t considering using Ben as a vessel a proper option, too.

“Mom!” Ben yelled and fought against the vice-like grip the angel had on his shoulder.

The kid didn’t look like anything bad had been done to him, but he clearly wasn’t happy. Dean vowed to make Zachariah pay for that alone! He was dying for a chance to just use the Colt on the jerk of an angel, but as things were he’d clearly see the move coming and that would clearly not be good for Ben.

“Dean, Dean, Dean, look what you made me resort to,” the angel spoke with clearly faked regret, shaking his head sadly.

If he had had his way he would have just killed both Winchesters slowly and very painfully for being the nuisances they were, but they were still needed, unfortunately.

“You let Ben go this instant, you dick!” Dean demanded in a hard voice.

It was quite ironic how Lucifer had tried to use someone Sam loved to make the younger Winchester feel a certain gratefulness toward the fallen angel while one of heaven’s soldiers just went with outright blackmail.

“I’d really like to do that, Dean, but if you won’t see sense, then maybe your son will,” Zachariah shrugged casually, squeezing the kid’s shoulder some more and eliciting a pained yelp from the boy that way.

Lisa wanted to charge the angel after that, but Castiel managed to hold her back with some difficulties. There was no use allowing her to get hurt. Fighting her off would not even distract the angel and Castiel was very sure that Dean would be mad at him for allowing her to do something stupid in the first place.

“You’re a disgrace for angels everywhere,” Gabriel stated very calmly, which earned him a glare from Lisa. Yes, he really wasn’t overly fond of that woman, which was something she and Dean had in common.

“I don’t think you are fit to judge that, Gabriel,” Zachariah spat in a very hateful tone, “I am doing my duty!”

Sam was really getting worried about Ben’s wellbeing. It couldn’t be good to upset the lunatic holding the boy hostage! The younger Winchester trusted that the archangel knew what he was doing, though.

“I doubt your boss even knows what you got up to,” Gabriel replied, still sounding rather nonchalant, “Shall we tell him?”

It had been ages since the archangel had last been in contact with his oldest brother, but he had never lost his number, figuratively speaking. Maybe it was a spectacularly bad idea, but he had thought about the talk he had had with Balthazar a lot and that had led to thinking about Michael and Lucifer. An idea had formed in Gabriel’s mind, but he wouldn’t have expected to set anything into motion quite this quickly or without talking to the rest of Team Free Will, especially Sam, beforehand. Well, the circumstances called for a change of plans.

Castiel’s eyes widened for a moment before he ordered, “Cover your ears!”

The humans didn’t question the command and pressed their palms against their ears when a deafening noise filled the air. They all ducked and covered their faces when the windows and all other glass exploded.

Once they dared to look again, Zachariah and Gabriel were gone, but Ben was finally free to run to his mother.

Sam tried to swallow the worries about his partner down, but he couldn’t help thinking of how he had been gravely injured only recently. That he was apparently facing his other bigger brother now, didn’t do anything to help the younger Winchester calm down, either.

 

* * *

 

 

Gabriel had not been in heaven for a long time and now that he was there again he found that he would much rather return to Earth. There was no use thinking about this while he had other things to deal with, though

“You should really do a thorough evaluation of your team, Mikey,” the archangel spoke clearly looking at Zachariah while he did, “Unless of course, your company values don’t include following our father’s will anymore.”

Hell, there was a reason why god had made it so that angels needed the consent of their vessels to possess them. And he surely hadn’t thought of giving his angelic children a reason to torture his human ones!

“Zachariah has strayed from the right path and he will be punished,” the other archangel admitted in a completely neutral tone and sent said angel away with a thought, “However, all this is part of what our father has chosen to be our destinies, Gabriel.”

Well, they were talking civilly, that had to count for something, right? Also, it filled the younger archangel with some satisfaction to hear that Zachariah’s actions would have consequences. Using children like he had was really low, after all.

“Maybe it is your destiny to have that fight with Lucifer, maybe it’s part of both your destinies that the one will kill the other eventually,” Gabriel replied and noticed with some satisfaction that Michael did not look happy about the prospect, “But whoever said it had to be now?”

The world would end for some reason, eventually. The younger archangel would settle for postponing the inevitable for a couple of hundred or thousand years!

“The seals have been broken,” Michael replied definitely, “Lucifer walks free, so we must have our confrontation.”

It was an inconvenience that both their vessels were as resistant as they were, but they would see sense eventually.

“We are very close to getting the key to the cage, brother. Give us a chance to put him back into his box, that’s all I’m asking. If we fail, you can still go ahead and fight him!” Gabriel argued, “And if we succeed… Well, someone will break the seals again eventually and maybe that will be the time you are actually meant to defeat him for good.”

He knew that his arguments might not be the strongest, but if he was right, then Michael didn’t really want to have to kill Lucifer. If he was right, Michael was following what he thought were their father’s orders, but he might take a loophole if he was offered one.

“My victory will bring heaven on Earth,” the older archangel spoke after a few moments of consideration.

“If father had wanted that so badly, he would have done something himself, don’t you think? He won’t mind if it takes another while,” Gabriel replied confidently.

It had been god himself who had given free will to the humans and he must have known that that would mean trouble. He had still loved his creation just as it was, though. The younger archangel just didn’t think that god really wanted to see at least half of it wiped from existence.

Michael looked uncertain for quite some time before he inclined his head ever so slightly. “I won’t wait for long, brother.”

The other archangel couldn’t quite describe just how relieved he felt. It was beyond words, really. Now they only had to get Lucifer locked up again, not that it would be much easier just because Michael would not insist on going through with the Apocalypse this time around.

“Thank you, brother,” Gabriel smiled and was about to leave when his brother stopped him. Not that that was so hard to do considering how a lot of his energy still went into repairing the damaged parts of his grace.

“There is something else you might be interested in,” Michael stated with a small smile and beckoned his brother to follow him.


	35. Chapter 35

** 35 **

 

“He gave you what?” Dean asked incredulously.

Gabriel did not particularly like to repeat himself and just put the object in question on the table in front of them. Really, the older Winchester should just learn to listen the first time something was said.

The archangel was sitting next to the younger Winchester on Bobby’s couch. He had yet to let go of the human’s hand. The contact had been established pretty much the second Gabriel had returned from heaven and Sam hadn’t given any signs that he wanted him to let go since.

“Death’s scythe,” Castiel stated as close to sounding in wonder as he would ever get. The fact that Michael was sort of helping them – by not hindering them, but still – and had even given Gabriel some assistance was astonishing enough to warrant some clear emotions coming from the usually very stoic angel.

To be honest, they all were quite glad that Castiel hadn’t changed all too much since he had lost his powers. Especially Dean preferred it that way, knowing what the angel’s future might have looked like.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Bobby commented, looking at the relatively small scythe lying on his couch table. Talk about getting help from an unlikely source.

“And it’ll help us find Death?” Sam asked doubtfully. In theory, there were spells to locate the owner of an object, but he wasn’t too sure how well they would work on entities that weren’t human. Death could change his location a million times before they ever got to him, after all.

“In theory, it should also help us get that ring off his finger,” Gabriel replied, “The scythe can harm and even kill Death, as the story goes, I’m not sure I believe the part about killing him, though.”

After all, how should anybody be able to kill Death himself? Who would come to collect Death’s essence? Where would Death go after, well, death?

Alright, the archangel also didn’t know where angels went when they died and there was no doubt that they could be killed.

“So, we’ve got another weapon that won’t kill the thing it’s supposed to. Awesome,” Dean snarked. He didn’t trust Michael’s sudden change of heart, anyway.

Okay, he was insanely glad that Lisa and Ben were sort of safe and out of harms way for the moment being, as it looked like and the story Gabriel had given them sounded rather plausible. After nearly a year of being harassed by the angels, especially Zachariah, it just sounded suspicious that their leader would suddenly see sense, though.

“We probably don’t need to kill or even harm him. Not if we can give him a good enough offer,” Gabriel shrugged.

“Are we talking human sacrifice?” Dean asked suspiciously, but at the same time in enough of a sour tone to give away that he thought he knew the answer to his own question, already.

The archangel might not be exactly bad for Sam per se, but the older Winchester didn’t trust him, anyway. Maybe he trusted him with his brother to a certain extent, not that he wanted to think about the things concerning Sam and Gabriel ever, but that didn’t mean that he trusted him too much with anything else. Granted, gaining Dean Winchester’s trust where his little brother was concerned was a pretty big achievement, though.

“I was thinking Pizza Hut, but your idea is good, too,” the archangel shot back casually and smirked slightly when Sam squeezed his hand as a warning. Apparently, he was not supposed to tease the unofficial in-laws, at least not at this particular moment.

“Okay, listen, Death is neutral by default. Death comes to get the young and the old, the sick, the healthy, the rich, the poor, demons, angels, gods, monsters,” Gabriel explained seriously, “He won’t like being on Lucifer’s leash. We give him a reason to believe in our plan, I’m pretty sure he’ll help us.”

He might at least help them by not hindering them, like Michael had said he would. Well, they needed some more direct help in this case, since they had to get that ring, but other than that Death staying away and not doing anything would do.

Of course, they still needed to work out what exactly they could offer him that he wouldn’t dismiss as too unlikely to work. As far as Gabriel knew, Death was a rather cold strategist which wasn’t exactly the sort of person the archangel could work with all too well. He had problems to get into that kind of mindset himself, in fact.

“Great, ‘cause our plan is so solid right now,” Dean snorted.

They all knew that their previous plan lay pretty much in ruins. The older Winchester didn’t even feel smug about the course of action the archangel had suggested failing, because they just didn’t have anything better. That was the bad thing about having a guy that seriously needed to be taken down a peg or two on the team. The entire team would be taken down right with him.

“We better work on making it better then,” Bobby replied reasonably.

They would have to improve said plan anyway, might as well do it right away.

The real problem, they could all agree, was that Lucifer most definitely knew that they were up to something. He knew that Gabriel was helping them and he knew that there had been a meeting with pagan gods and other angels. None of these would come as a surprise, if they showed up to fight him. Looking at how their numbers were a lot smaller than they had thought, due to Lucifer crashing the meeting, surprise would be essential, though.

“He won’t jump in by himself, that’s for sure,” Dean huffed after a long time of futilely discussing their situation.

What the older Winchester hadn’t anticipated was the very thoughtful look that crossed his brother’s face at those words. He didn’t even notice it before Bobby looked at Sam clearly worried.

“Don’t you get stupid ideas now, boy!” the older hunter stated warningly.

Both Dean and Gabriel immediately looked at the younger Winchester. The archangel looked more troubled than angry, the older Winchester’s expression was more furious than anxious. They both were expressing the same underlying emotion, they just had different ways of showing it.

“No, you don’t!” Dean agreed with Bobby, even though Sam had still not even said what exactly he had been thinking about. It wasn’t that hard to guess, though.

“It would only take one action,” the younger Winchester mused, anyway.

He knew none of the people present would like to hear it, even less consider the idea, but it was an option and they needed to think it through, at least.

“You are talking about the devil himself here, son,” the older hunter spoke in a reasonable voice. There was no need to force Sam into defensiveness. He would only get more stubborn and unreasonable, if they did that. There was no way Bobby wanted the younger Winchester to do what he had just implied he would, but he knew the young man well enough to know that simply shooting the idea down wouldn’t do any good.

“You cannot possibly imagine Lucifer’s powers, Sam,” Castiel added seriously, “Jimmy said that being my vessel was like being chained to a comet. Lucifer’s presence would be worse, from the very first second on.”

Also, Castiel and Jimmy had not been fighting over the use of their shared body. It had been a very peaceful coexistence for the most part. Even if they had gone through a lot, Jimmy had not tried to fight him. Castiel only knew the angel-side of things, but he was sure that any sort of struggle would have made things much worse for the human.

“Okay, okay,” Sam replied, holding his hands up defensively, “I’d probably not get him to _do_ anything.”

It was painfully obvious to everyone around that the younger Winchester wasn’t done talking about this, though.

“But I could distract him a little. Force some of his attention away from you guys,” Sam added and pointedly ignored the murderous looks his brother was shooting him, “It would just take a couple of seconds for one of our allies to give him that one push.”

Gabriel clearly looked like he wanted to object, but one look from the younger Winchester stopped him.

“It wouldn’t be me anymore, Gabriel,” Sam reminded his partner in a gentle tone that finally pushed his brother over the edge.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Dean exploded, “How long have we been fighting against becoming angel-condoms?”

Gabriel faintly noticed that there was a joke about safe sex in there, but he didn’t really have the mental capacities to put it together and even less say it out loud at that moment.

The really bad thing about the entire situation was that Sam was right. It was a chance, the only one they had been able to come up with, as little as they all liked it. The worst thing about the situation was that he could see that the younger Winchester had made up his mind about it already, though. If they couldn’t come up with another idea that was at least as likely to work out, Sam would go through with this, even if he had to force them to go along with the plan.

“Look, Dean, if you know anything else we can try-,” the younger Winchester started but was promptly interrupted by his older brother.

“Anything but _that_ , Sam!” Dean pretty much yelled, “I won’t stand for it!”

“It’s my body and my soul we’re talking about” Sam retorted, getting loud himself, “We all know I’ll be going to hell, anyway!”

It wasn’t like the younger Winchester had any hopes that he might go to heaven after everything he had done. Who knew what would have happened, if Dean had let him stay dead the first time around, but by now there was no way he could ever redeem himself. Even if they put Lucifer back into his cage, there were all the awful things that had happened since he had been set free and those were on Sam as much as they were on the fallen angel.

“I would not make a decision based on that assumption,” Castiel stated thoughtfully, “Our father works in mysterious ways and he might decide that you have done everything in your power to make amends for your mistake and deserve a place in heaven.”

It was not exactly clear if the angel really was only speaking about god or if he was talking about his own feelings as well, but the younger Winchester gave him a small smile for it, anyway.

“I won’t have done everything in my power until I have tried this, though,” Sam stated after a short moment of consideration.

It wasn’t that he had a serious death wish. In fact, the younger Winchester very much wanted to live, especially now, but he would not be able to live with himself, if any more of his loved ones got hurt or died because of him. That possibility was much more real than he was comfortable with as recent events had shown, too.

“If you really feel that way…” Gabriel finally spoke with more conviction than he actually felt.

As the archangel saw it, his partner would not be deterred anyway and while that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to talk him out of it later on, the only thing he might accomplish by speaking against the plan in general that very moment was getting into a nasty argument. It seemed the older Winchester had that part covered already, though.

“I knew it!” Dean snapped, “And you say you love him!”

He had jumped up from his seat the very second it had become clear that the archangel wouldn’t do everything in his might to talk Sam out of saying yes to Lucifer.

There went the trust he had put into Gabriel to take care of Sam. The very painful feeling in his chest reminded him why he hated to have to put trust in anyone, to begin with.

“Don’t you dare suggest otherwise,” Gabriel replied in a dangerous tone the younger Winchester didn’t like at all. The taller man put a hand on his partner’s knee to help him stay as calm as still possible.

“Why would I possibly do that?” Dean shot back in a voice dripping with sarcasm, “It’s not like you just calmly gave him permission to go kill himself!”

Before anyone had the chance to stop them the older Winchester and the archangel were standing toe to toe. They were only glaring at each other for the moment being, but there was the very real possibility that one of them would throw the first punch any second.

“Stop it!” Sam yelled before anything more could happen, though, “Nobody asked any of you for your permission!”

Of course, they would have to work together for the plan to work out, but the final decision in the matter should be his and he wouldn’t let any of them take that away from him.

“If anything, we need Death’s opinion on the plan,” the younger Winchester added very matter-of-factly, “We can still rip each other apart once we have heard his judgment.”

It had to be expected that Dean wouldn’t consider the conversation over, but in the end he didn’t have a choice but to admit that neither of them would give in and they would have to talk to Death, anyway. He had the sinking feeling that the Grim Reaper wouldn’t support his opinion either, though.


	36. Chapter 36

** 36 **

 

Locating Death with the help of a spell and the scythe had been rather easy. So easy that Castiel and Gabriel had come to the conclusion that he wanted to be found by them at this point in time. If they were right, then he might have monitored their progress and waited for the right time to get into the game himself.

Dean, of course, had insisted on driving to Chicago and Sam had asked Gabriel to grab Castiel and meet them there. The younger Winchester wasn’t exactly looking forward to having some hours to talk things over with his brother, but he knew they needed to do it all the same.

They had been on the road for nearly two hours before the older Winchester felt up to having a conversation.

“You’re putting your life in the hands of Death,” Dean spoke, surprisingly not accusing, but simply stating facts, “Please, tell me you realize why that’s fucked up!”

He was still mad at Gabriel for not even trying to talk Sam out of this and he clearly thought his younger brother was being stupid, but for the moment being they could have a civilized talk about the matter. They’d yell at each other soon enough, the older Winchester was sure.

“Of course, I do,” Sam replied immediately, “But you’ve got to understand that I’ll do it, anyway.”

Yes, they would tell Death about the plan they had and if the Grim Reaper would take it then the younger Winchester would go through with it.

Dean just snorted. They both knew that meant he knew that all too well.

“Dean, if our roles were reversed, you’d do the same and you wouldn’t let me stop you, either,” Sam sighed.

“And you’d bitch about it the entire time,” his older brother shot back, “So just be glad I don’t do bitching.”

Different label, same content, but Sam wasn’t going to call his brother out on that as things were. He understood that he was putting his loved ones through a lot with the decision he had made. Hell, a picture of him and Dean might be in a lexicon next to the definition of co-dependant. But they both had proven just how selfish they could be when it came to the question which one of them would be the one to be left behind alone, too.

Sam didn’t even want to think of what exactly he might be doing to Gabriel, so he kept those thoughts at bay as much as he could, for the moment being.

“I just want you to know that you, or all of you really, can be mad at me and curse me however much you want, I’ll still stick to my decision,” the younger Winchester stated after a short silence, “I don’t care if you’ll hate me for this, because you’ll be alive and Lucifer will be gone.”

While that might not be the only thing he wanted for his family, it was the one thing he knew he could give them.

The older Winchester knew that there was no way he was going to win this argument. He also knew that they still needed Death’s ring and that everything they quarreled about now might be null and void as soon as they got to speak to the Horseman. Dean didn’t put any hopes into the possibility that Death might not like the part of the plan where Sam was going to be Lucifer’s vessel after all, though.

“Like I’d ever really hate you,” the older Winchester murmured before he added a not completely heartfelt, “Bitch.”

“Don’t know, I think you came pretty close a couple of times,” the younger Winchester replied with a small, fake smile.

“Only because you keep forgetting the pie,” Dean retorted. He was unwilling and unable to talk or even think about any times when he might really have come close to disowning his brother for good. Hell, like any of that mattered anymore, looking at what might be happening all too soon.

 

* * *

 

 

As it looked, two out of four Horsemen had a thing for fast-food.

Surprisingly enough the pizzeria was still occupied by a couple of other guests, as well. The really surprising part was that the other customers were still very much alive and breathing, though. This actually counted as a promising start without being sarcastic about it for once.

“I thought you were joking about the pizza,” Sam whispered to Gabriel as their little group approached Death.

Out of the four Horsemen, Death was obviously the one that really looked his part, too. Strangely enough, he didn’t look extraordinarily scary or dislikable, though.

The archangel shrugged lightly, “I had heard rumors. Apparently, at least some were true.”

Dean had the scythe Michael had given to them hidden under his jacket, even though they didn’t intend to take the ring by force. It surely couldn’t hurt to be prepared for the worst, though.

“You are bringing my property back to me, how courteous,” Death suddenly spoke, clearly looking at the older Winchester, even though he didn’t stop cutting his pizza into pieces.

Dean gave his companions a doubting look, but finally took the scythe and placed it on the table next to the Horseman. They were hoping to have a civil conversation and keeping the scythe surely wouldn’t have helped with that, at least not when Death already knew that they had it.

Death nodded slightly and made the weapon disappear. He then gestured for the other four men to sit down. They hadn’t really paid attention to it before, but he was seated at a table for a bigger group. Clearly, they hadn’t surprised the Horseman with anything they had done, yet.

The entire situation felt perfectly surreal the moment the waitress appeared to ask for their orders. It didn’t help that Death asked for a few extra-plates so they could share the pizza.

Sam wasn’t completely convinced that he wasn’t just dreaming, at that point.

In the meantime, Dean contemplated if eating or not eating the offered food was more likely to get them killed. The archangel didn’t seem to have such qualms and just took a bite. Of course, out of all of them – not counting Death – Gabriel was the hardest to kill, so that didn’t necessarily mean that Dean felt safe to eat, too.

“I know what you want,” Death stated matter-of-factly after he had thoroughly chewed and swallowed a piece of his pizza.

The older Winchester didn’t like how well informed the Horseman seemed to be. He didn’t like having to put all his cards on the table to begin with, but realizing that they had already been put on the table without his knowledge was even worse.

“Then you surely know why giving us the ring would be favorable for you, as well,” Sam replied in a very respectful voice.

If there was one entity he really didn’t want to upset, it was Death. That was a fight they just could not win.

“So it seems,” Death answered without changing his tone in the slightest.

Sam couldn’t help wondering what they would look like to the other guests of the restaurant. They surely would make a strange picture to everyone who bothered to take a closer look. Then again it wasn’t completely unlikely that either Death or Gabriel had done something to keep the public eye off of them.

“Alright, so you hand the ring over, we put Lucifer back into his box and everyone’s happy,” Dean summarized in a tone that sounded by far more confident than he actually felt. If it had been that easy, Death would have given them the item they needed already.

“I’ve got the say, the leash Luci put on you doesn’t fit you, anyway,” Gabriel quipped in nearly cheerfully, “I bet you are dying to get rid of it. Pun totally intended.”

Not that the leash was an actual object, but the archangel could see the binding magic at work. As little as he liked his brother’s general plans, he had to admit that Lucifer must have balls of steel to dare to work a spell like that on Death. Either that or enough self-confidence for three. It was probably a mixture of both.

The Horseman took the ring off his finger and looked at it for a little while, completely ignoring the bad joke Gabriel had made. If you asked Death, they all were insolent children who knew next to nothing about the bigger picture, but at least this bunch of children was playing by rules the Horseman could more or less approve of.

“I want you all to take a moment to consider what you are willing to do to entrap Lucifer again,” Death spoke in his usual stoic tone, but giving every single one of the group a piercing look. There was absolutely no use handing them a weapon, if they weren’t absolutely willing to take the recoil that came with it.

“Anything,” Sam answered before any of the others could say something.

As well informed as the Horseman was, telling him about the plan was most surely not needed, but he clearly wanted to know how serious they were about it. Well, the younger Winchester was dead serious.

Death nodded seemingly satisfied before he gave the other three men another look.

“I believe Sam can go through with his plan,” Castiel stated gravely, “And I am willing to assist in any way I can.”

The angel knew that he was not the one who needed to declare his intentions the most, but the other two seemed unusually tongue-tied for both their standards.

Dean nodded his agreement with what Cas had said curtly. He had had a couple of hours to think these things through and he knew his brother would not be deterred. Of course, he didn’t like the plan any more than he had at the start, but it still was the only one they had.

There were a couple of moments where it looked like Death and Gabriel were having a staring contest before the archangel nodded tightly.

In a way they all felt like they had just signed Sam’s death warrant. It didn’t make any of them feel better that Death put the ring on the table for them to take right afterward.

 

* * *

 

 

Bobby had informed Ellen and Jo of their changed plans and the two women had taken off toward the salvage yard while the others had had their meeting with Death. They all arrived back at Bobby’s nearly at the same time.

Jo had her arms around Sam’s neck before the younger Winchester even knew what was happening to him.

“You’re being so stupid and reckless and…” the younger Harvelle trailed off, “Sam, how are we ever going to get you back out of this?”

The younger Winchester sighed and brought a little distance between himself and Jo.

“Not at all,” he answered very seriously, “You won’t get me back out of the cage. I want every single one of you to promise that you won’t do anything to open that damn thing again, even if you think you are completely sure that you’ll get me out alone!”

The silence that ensued was very telling. They all had thought that they somehow would be able to find a way to get Sam back. It was a hope especially Dean and Gabriel surely had clung to and the younger Winchester was nearly sorry to take that from them, but he had to make sure that everyone understood that this had to be the end.

“Hell no!” his brother exclaimed not yet furiously but getting there, “You can’t ask that of us on top of everything!”

Yes, he had thought that there had to be some loophole and that they would somehow get Sam back out with time. It wasn’t ideal, but better than just accepting that he would be gone forever.

“I _have to_ ask that of you on top of everything,” the younger Winchester insisted with a sigh, “Look at where not letting go got us! It’s the freaking Apocalypse! What will it be next time?”

Knowing their luck it could only get worse. The instant annihilation of all life on Earth came to mind.

“If that’s what you really want,” Gabriel managed to say before his voice broke. It wasn’t like they had much of a choice anymore, anyway. They could barely back out on a deal they had made with Death himself.

Dean didn’t say anything and just opted to punch the archangel right in the face with all his might. That probably hurt his hand more than it did to Gabriel, but it felt satisfying, anyway.

The older Winchester turned around and marched toward the house without saying another word to anyone. He was done with stupid conversations that were only getting worse and worse by the day.

Sam had moved to Gabriel’s side and gently checked the archangel’s cheek and nose immediately. No wounds were visible and the younger Winchester doubted that his partner had even felt the blow all too much, but it had come as a shock to basically all of them.

Castiel excused himself and went after Dean pretty much instantly and Ellen and Jo said that they would get their things inside.

All in all, the situation was awkward and uncomfortable for all of them, but Sam knew that there wasn’t anything he could do about that now.

“He’ll come around and accept it, eventually,” the younger Winchester mumbled, still holding his boyfriend close.

“We’re talking about the same person here, aren’t we?” Gabriel shot back, but sneaked his arm around Sam in a reassuring manner, anyway.


	37. Chapter 37

** 37 **

 

Bobby’s place was getting crowded once more. Balthazar and Gabriel’s three children had shown up shortly after the Harvelles did and they all had discussed when and where they should try to pull this off. Of course, they had to make sure that no innocent bystanders would be caught in the crossfire and they had to be prepared for the possibility that Lucifer might not show up alone.

There also was the question if all of them should be present, or rather if all of them should be present right from the start. They surely would need the help of the pagan gods, but them standing there for Lucifer to see right from the start didn’t sound like the best idea. Then again, the devil would be prepared for their possible interference, anyway.

All the talking about strategy had given Sam a headache in no time and he had decided to slip from the room and just catch some fresh air at the first convenient moment that had presented itself.

It was hard to come to terms with the thought that this might be the last time he ever saw a sunset, but he had chosen this for himself. Not that there had been many options to choose from. Well, he wasn’t going to complain about that now. He was glad that there was a possibility to stop Lucifer, at all.

“Father will miss you greatly,” Hel spoke in a gentle tone. She had given the younger Winchester a couple of minutes of privacy before she had made her presence known. This might be one of the last chances she would ever get to talk to the human and she wasn’t going to miss it, however.

Sam looked at the dark-haired woman surprised, but didn’t say anything. He knew that Gabriel would have a hard time dealing with everything, but there was nothing he could have done about that. He nearly had felt sorry for ever stopping to push the archangel away when he had first decided that he would sacrifice himself for their cause. Then again, Sam couldn’t honestly say that he regretted anything that had happened.

“He will be okay with time,” Hel added after a moment and gave the tall human a small smile, “We will make sure of it.”

Sam gave a small smile of his own back at that. It was nice to know that Gabriel would not be completely on his own. He seemed to have a good relationship with his children and they were obviously willing to keep an eye on him. The younger Winchester just had to believe that a being as old and as powerful as his partner was wouldn’t be kept down forever by losing a loved one.

He also knew that Dean had Bobby, Ellen, Jo and Castiel to get him through and they were the best safety net Sam could ever imagine.

The younger Winchester figured that he would be a lot more panicky at this point if he didn’t know that his loved ones would be cared for. As things were, he was oddly calm. There were things that felt strange to him, like knowing that he wouldn’t be walking the Earth anymore in less than twenty-four hours, if everything went as planned, but he wasn’t stressed out about or scared because of them.

“It’s a pity we never got to get to know you better,” Hel finished, putting a hand on Sam’s shoulder, “I think you would have made a great addition to the family.”

That was probably one of the greatest compliments the goddess was capable of and the human really appreciated it.

“It would have been an honor to be a member of your family,” Sam replied honestly.

Hel nodded with a small smile and turned to go back to her brothers and the planning that was still going on.

The younger Winchester wasn’t alone for long after the woman had left, however.

“Bobby says he’ll break out the shotgun if I don’t stop being an _idjit_ and talk to you,” Dean snorted and leaned against the porch railing next to his brother, “So, I’m talking. Not that I know what to say, other than what I said already.”

Sam gave his brother a crooked smile for that little speech.

“What do you think I should be doing, if not search for a way to get you back out?” the older Winchester finally pressed through his teeth. He honestly couldn’t think of an alternative and he didn’t want to, either.

“I don’t know,” Sam admitted meekly, “Hell, I don’t know what I would do, if our roles were reversed.”

There was silence between them for a little while, but it wasn’t completely uncomfortable. The taller man knew that his brother was hurting, but there seemed to be some acceptance in his behavior and general posture, at least.

“You could always…” Sam trailed off and then decided to start anew, “I’ve seen the way Lisa looks at you. You could always try to make things work with her. Be a real dad.”

Dean huffed and didn’t meet his brother’s eyes, “I don’t see that happening, Sammy.”

Besides, he didn’t know for sure that he even was Ben’s father. He only knew that Lisa didn’t know for sure that he wasn’t. Of course, he might have found out and he might have tried to get closer to them regardless of the results, settle down and have a normal life. He just couldn’t imagine even wanting to try, though.

“I’m sorry, Dean,” Sam apologized quietly.

“And I’m sort of sorry for punching your boyfriend,” Dean replied, although he didn’t look sorry at all, “I can’t honestly say that I wouldn’t do it again, though.”

The younger Winchester had to chuckle after that admission despite himself. It just was such a Dean thing to say. He had not counted on his brother and the archangel supporting each other after he was gone, anyway. Sam knew that they only tried to get along for his sake and that there would be nothing holding them together when he was out of the picture. It was a pity, really. The younger Winchester had always thought that the two of them had some things in common and might have made good friends. Then again, more often than not people were annoyed by character traits they themselves possessed in other people.

“I love you, bro,” Sam stated seriously after a moment of consideration, “I know I’ve been an ungrateful brat more often than not and I know we’ve had our disagreements, but I’ve always loved having you as my brother.”

“God, Samantha, go use some of that on your douchebag angel,” Dean replied, hating how he was getting choked up and at the same time hating that he couldn’t just show his feelings that one time.

“Wouldn’t have traded you for anyone else, either,” the older Winchester finally mumbled and patted his brother on the back, “I really need a drink right about now!”

Sam could wholeheartedly agree to both those things.

 

* * *

 

 

There had been no more big speeches, or anything close to a good bye for the rest of the evening. They still had some of the following day for that, so they all had chosen to ignore the elephant in the room in favor of getting into different stages of drunkenness. Having a couple of gods and two angels with their powers more or less intact around really had its perks. Especially since they had already announced that they could get rid of any hangovers the humans might experience in the morning easily.

Sam had made sure that he didn’t get anywhere close to drunk, though. There were a couple more things he fully intended to do, after all.

Once it was clear that everyone else was occupied the younger Winchester grabbed his partner’s hand and pulled him toward the stairs and the room they were sharing.

Gabriel smiled when Sam pushed his back against the door the very moment he had closed it behind them and leaned in for a slow, deep kiss.

“Are you going dominant on me on your last day on Earth?” the archangel asked a little breathlessly. He wasn’t complaining by any means, but he was sort of used to being the pushy one.

“I’m not going to hell without taking that last step with you,” Sam murmured against his partner’s neck.

In a way it felt liberating that they could just talk about the facts as they were without sugarcoating or ignoring what was going to happen, but the younger Winchester was hoping that they wouldn’t do too much thinking or talking in the near future, anyway.

Gabriel nodded. “Enough of that now,” he stated in a gentle tone, tracing Sam’s cheekbones with his fingers, “Let’s just be sort of normal for tonight.”

The younger Winchester smiled but didn’t get to reply before the archangel’s lips were already against his again.

The kiss was heated but not hurried. It took a while before Gabriel’s tongue traced Sam’s lower lip, begging for entrance which the taller man granted gladly.

With all the practice he had gotten in the past weeks, getting the archangel’s shirt unbuttoned while his brain was focused on different things was no challenge anymore, so it wasn’t long before the younger Winchester’s hands were roaming over Gabriel’s naked back. The shorter man smiled and pulled on the hem of the human’s t-shirt as a signal that he very much insisted on Sam losing it as quickly as possible, too.

The archangel’s hand traced the skin of the taller man’s stomach right over the waistband of his jeans with one hand while he kept the other one pressed against Sam’s spine as he walked him backwards toward the bed.

He chose to work his partner’s jeans off before he guided him into a lying position for convenience reason. It wasn’t like they would have stayed on for long, anyway. Besides, Sam wasn’t complaining and the sight of the human stretched out on the bed in front of him in nothing but his – very much tented - boxers was really great.

“Uh… care to join me here?” the younger Winchester asked with a raised eyebrow a couple of moments later and held out his hand for his lover to take.

Gabriel smirked, but let his partner pull him half on top of him as soon as he had kicked his own pants off.

“Just took a second to admire the view,” the archangel chuckled before he captured Sam’s lips in a passionate kiss that only managed to get more heated when he managed to fit one of his thighs between his partner’s.

The younger Winchester moaned quietly and wrapped his arms around Gabriel to keep him as close as possible as they simply moved against each other for a few long moments.

Sam only noticed that he must have closed his eyes at some point when they snapped open as the archangel sneaked his hand under the waistband of his underwear. The younger Winchester raised his hand to stroke his partner’s cheek softly and smiled just before Gabriel pressed their hips together at a perfect angle and forced another moan from his human with it.

“I’d think it’s about time you get on top,” the shorter male whispered into his partner’s ear.

After that, Sam rolled them over faster than he had anticipated which made the archangel grin. Somebody was getting very impatient here and Gabriel could not deny that seeing how much of an effect he had on his lover was a huge turn on.

A well placed squeeze of Sam’s hand wiped the grin off the angel’s face, however. The human was not the only one who was getting very excited, after all.

Their boxer shorts landed on the other side of the room in a hurry after that.

The younger Winchester leaned his forehead against Gabriel’s. He couldn’t help wondering if his own pupils were blown just as wide as the archangel’s were. He’d bet everything he possessed that they were, though.

The shorter man ran his fingers through his partner’s hair and pulled him into a deep but very gentle kiss before he stroked over Sam’s sides and rest his hands over his hips.

He wasn’t quite sure if he liked the slightly unsure expression that crossed the younger Winchester’s face, but he was pretty sure that he knew where it came from. Those were the joys of being someone’s first – if only first male partner in this case – but then again, he enjoyed knowing that nobody else had been with the human like this immensely.

“’S okay, Sammybear, I’m ready. You can’t hurt me. Promise,” Gabriel whispered gently, rubbing his thumbs over the taller man’s hips reassuringly.

Sam didn’t need any more encouragement after that.

This right there was why he had never looked for one-night stands as much as his brother had. Everything purely physical might feel great for a couple of moments, but adding a deep emotional connection to the mix was what made sex really mean something.

The younger Winchester couldn’t help the startled sound that escaped him when he suddenly found himself lying on his back with Gabriel above him, but he couldn’t say that he minded, because they found their rhythm just a moment later and that made having any coherent thoughts a thing of the past.

“I love you,” Sam exhaled against the archangel’s neck once they were both lying on their sides, still pressed up against each other.

“Love you, too,” Gabriel replied with a lazy smile as he drew elaborate but completely meaningless patterns all over the younger Winchester’s chest with his fingers.

Sam didn’t particularly want to fall asleep, but as worn out and relaxed as he felt, he couldn’t help it for long.

The archangel smiled at his lover sadly and leaned in to brush his lips against his forehead.

“I’m sorry, Sammy, but I can’t let you go,” he whispered far too silently for the human to hear before he settled in for a sleepless night in his human’s arms.


	38. Chapter 38

** 38 **

 

The field they had chosen to summon Lucifer to was far enough from everything that there shouldn’t be any casualties among civilians. Furthermore, they had decided to just show their numbers openly since none of the present people would come as a surprise to the devil, anyway. This way nobody could be somehow ambushed alone, at least.

Jo was currently doing her very best to squeeze the life out of the younger Winchester, Ellen and Bobby luckily had been satisfied with a short, tight hug each.

Castiel just stood by awkwardly until Sam patted his shoulder with a crooked smile which the angel took as an invitation to hug the other man tightly for a moment. Saying that this came as a surprise would have been an understatement.

“Do me a favor and keep Dean out of trouble, alright?” the younger Winchester addressed the angel with a small smile.

“I don’t believe that any individual could accomplish that, Sam,” Castiel replied apologetic. He would have really wanted to grant what might very well be his friend’s last wish, but he could not guarantee that Dean would even let him keep him out of trouble!

“We’ll help you with that, feathers,” Ellen stated warmly and definitely.

Of course, they’d all do everything to make sure that the older Winchester would get back to his feet and the angel was right, that wouldn’t be a one-man job.

“You two idjits will be the death of me,” Bobby grumbled.

The older hunter had already watched each one of them die before and he really couldn’t say that that was making things easier.

“I won’t cause any new grief from today on, at least,” Sam shrugged and got a hard shove against his shoulder from his brother for his troubles. Alright, he should have known that Dean would not appreciate that sort of gallows humor.

“Not funny!” the older Winchester ground out.

He gave his younger brother a short, manly hug. To tell the truth, he was a little afraid that he’d never let go of Sam, if he didn’t force himself to step away again quickly.

So, this was it. Everything had been said and done. Now they could only let Lucifer find them and hope for the best.

The younger Winchester stood next to Gabriel and gave the archangel the tiniest smile.

“I’m ready,” Sam stated.

He took his partner’s hand and made him put his palm against Sam’s chest. “Let him come.”

The archangel nodded tightly and erased the sigils Castiel had put on both Winchester’s ribs again. He seriously doubted that his fallen brother would let them wait for long, but he stayed right next to the younger Winchester, holding his hand, anyway.

On second though, Gabriel reached for the collar of the overshirt Sam wore and pulled it down a little. If the circumstances had been different, Dean would have commented on the hickeys that were clearly to be seen over the collar of his t-shirt now.

“That’s so childish, Gabriel,” Lucifer spoke casually instead.

“That’s just to show you that Sam will always have been mine before he was yours,” Gabriel replied scathingly. It was rather hard for him to just keep standing there and not try and take the younger Winchester and run. Not that they’d get far, but the impulse to try it was there, anyway.

“Seeing how I get him from now to all eternity, I can live with that,” Lucifer replied with a small smirk.

Sam squeezed Gabriel’s hand before he decided that the verbal pissing contest had gone far enough.

“Let’s stop talking about _him_ like _he_ is not here,” the younger Winchester stated.

“Or like this is a bad porno,” Balthazar quipped unhelpfully. The angel had chosen to stand close to Castiel and as far from Lucifer as possible, but that didn’t mean he wanted to show the devil any fear he might have felt.

Dean shot the annoying angel a hard look for the comment. Like he seriously needed to think about stuff like that in the situation they were in!

“As you wish,” Lucifer said nearly charmingly, “You called, I came running. So?”

It was then that they got their assumption that the devil would not show up alone confirmed. There weren’t that many demons around, but still enough of them to be worrying. Luckily, that came as no surprise and the humans, gods and angels had arranged themselves in a way that they could protect themselves against attacks from any side before Lucifer had shown up.

“I want to make a deal with you,” Sam told the fallen angel, meeting his gaze unwavering.

“I am sorry, but I have outsourced this sort of activity to your friend Crowley and his underlings years ago,” Lucifer replied with a slight shrug, “Which reminds me, I’ve got to find a new leader for that department.”

Crowley had not been found and eliminated for his betrayal yet, but it was only a matter of time. Besides, a new king of the crossroads was needed, anyway.

“Ah, I can’t say no to you, Sam,” Lucifer added after a short moment, “Let me hear what you’ve got!”

The devil’s nonchalant tone and behavior was in stark contrast to the very tense atmosphere. Both, the demons and team free will were itching for a confrontation. Dean especially would have appreciated the chance to get rid of some frustration and Fenrir and Jörmungandr had been waiting for this moment ever since they had been forced to flee from the last meeting.

“I want your word that you’ll leave my family, and that includes everyone you see here, alive and unharmed,” the younger Winchester stated seriously, “In return I’ll say yes to you.”

Lucifer tented his fingers and held them under his chin in consideration.

“You’ll understand that I can’t make promises about anything Michael might do,” he stated thoughtfully, “Also, I’ll have to protect our body, so if any of them do anything stupid…”

He didn’t finish the threat, but he didn’t have to, anyway.

Sam nodded to those conditions. They were pretty understood. It wasn’t like they were really planning to stick to any deal, but for the moment being they had to act like they did.

“And, Sam, I am afraid they will do something stupid,” the fallen angel added, shaking his head sadly, “You all wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to get that key, if you didn’t intend to use it.”

It didn’t come as a real surprise that Lucifer knew about the rings and what they did, but it definitely made things more complicated. As if they needed to be any more complicated!

“Do you want this, or not?” the younger Winchester asked unapologetically.

“Oh yes, I do,” Lucifer answered with a hint of a smile, “And I will stick to my word. Everybody who does not take a stand against me will live and remain unharmed.”

Strangely enough, Sam believed that, but he also believed that the fallen angel had only made that promise, because he knew that none of the people present would walk away without a fight, anyway.

“Then yes,” the younger Winchester said silently but clearly.

Gabriel held his partner’s hand tightly until Lucifer’s current vessel fell to the ground lifeless. A clear sign that his brother had left the building and was going to occupy his new vessel any moment.

“What have you done?” Lucifer hissed at Gabriel immediately after he snapped his new eyes open.

“What I had to,” the archangel replied, obvious that he was relatively content with himself.

“That’s a definite deal-breaker!” the fallen angel shot back angrily.

The others did not quite understand what the two brothers were going on about, but they didn’t get the time to think about the question for long before the demons charged them.

Balthazar and the three pagan gods were acting as their first line of defense, with Ellen, Jo and Castiel taking care of the few demons that managed to get by them.

Dean threw the conjoined rings of the four Horsemen to the ground and started to say the spell they needed to open the cage while Bobby stayed close to him. The older hunter was mostly there to make sure that somebody would be able to finish the incantation in case Dean couldn’t. It couldn’t hurt to have a backup, after all.

Hel had just finished another one of the demons as her father caught her eye and something about him grabbed her attention for a moment too long. Even she had to admit that the yelp that escaped her when a bunch of demons threw themselves at her at once was undignified, but luckily nobody was likely to have heard it over all the noise they were making.

Fenrir was at his sister’s side immediately and together they managed to get rid of the attackers easily enough. A couple more had made it past them in the meantime, however.

Castiel had never missed his angelic powers as much as he did that very moment, but he was by far too busy to linger on those feelings. Besides, he found that using a gun had its merits, as well. At the very least, it was satisfying to shoot the demons, even if it would not kill them for good.

Not too far from them, Lucifer and Gabriel were having their very own battle, though it seemed to be more of a battle of their wills this far.

“I would have thought you had learned your lesson after last time,” Lucifer spat and finally drew his blade.

If the archangel had been a little scared that it wouldn’t be that easy to wrap his mind around the idea that the body didn’t belong to his Sammybear any long before, he surely didn’t have any of those worries left. Lucifer’s presence shone through so clearly, that Gabriel saw nothing else but his fallen brother.

“We both know that I’m awfully thick sometimes,” Gabriel replied nonchalantly. He still was very glad to hear Dean say the last part of the spell, though. He knew he wouldn’t have made it through a lengthy battle.

The entrance to the cage opened with a swoosh and it was suddenly getting very windy around them.

Gabriel had made a point of making sure everybody understood that they should do everything not to get too close to the hole that had just opened, because there was no getting out again of that one.

Balthazar was the first to get the great idea to make sure that a couple of demons got too close to it, however. He felt overly generous for making sure that Lucifer wouldn’t be lonely in his cage this time around, too.

The two archangels had started to attack each other in earnest the second that the cage had been fully opened and it looked like Lucifer would prefer throwing his brother into his old prison over killing him. He probably viewed that as a fate worse than death, though.

Ellen was too busy with the demon she was just struggling with to notice that Fenrir had elbowed one away from himself and had accidentally sent the demon straight over to the older Harvelle that way.

Castiel saw the enemy coming and quickly got in the way. In his hurry he did not manage to get into a good fighting position before the demon was already on him, however.

Knowing that he couldn’t do anything more against Lucifer at the moment, Dean didn’t hesitate and ran over to his friend. He’d be damned if he lost his brother and his best friend at the same day!

The demon still managed to imbed a short knife in the angel’s shoulder before he got the demon killing knife straight through his throat.

“Cas, you okay?” Dean asked, immediately helping the other man up and taking a quick look at the wound before he had to pay attention to the remaining demons again.

“I believe so,” Castiel answered just a little shakily. He was no stranger to physical pain, after all.

The fight here would not go on much longer, anyway. If Lucifer was not thrown back into the cage soon, then it was a foregone conclusion that the fallen angel would win and even if he should for some reason decide not to kill them all immediately, they all would be dead men and women walking afterward.

It was by no means easy for Bobby to point a gun – the Colt to be exact – at the young man he had viewed as one of his sons for a long time, but at the same time he knew that it was no longer Sam and he also knew that the younger Winchester would have expected him to do everything to beat Lucifer and help Gabriel. The older hunter took a deep breath, aimed carefully and fired at the devil.

Lucifer howled both in anger and pain. The Colt might not kill him, but it could wound him and he really didn’t need to lose any of his power at the moment being.

Gabriel took his chance to give his brother a hard push, but the devil managed to grab the shorter archangel’s hand and pull him toward him.

“I’m not going alone,” Lucifer hissed and grabbed Gabriel’s hand tighter. They both were getting sucked in slowly but steadily, as things were.

“Probably not, Balthazar already threw a couple of companions in for you,” the older Winchester suddenly stated with a cruel smirk as he held the back of Gabriel’s jacket, “But you won’t take him!”

Hel had also gotten a hold on her father’s shoulder to make sure he would not be dragged in with the devil.

Dean wasn’t even completely finished talking when Jörmungandr changed back into his giant snake form for the couple of moments he needed to let his tail spring forward and give Lucifer that last hard jab they needed.

Most of the last remaining demons ran for the hills the second the cage closed after their master. The very few that stayed were killed by Fenrir and Balthazar while Ellen and Jo already worked on Castiel’s wound.

Bobby stood close to Dean and put his hand on the younger man’s shoulder without words. They both were thinking pretty much the same thing, anyway. At least it had worked, not that that made anything much better.


	39. Chapter 39

** 39 **

 

Sam’s eyes shot open, but he couldn’t quite take his surroundings in immediately. Everything seemed too bright and his mind wasn’t working the way it should.

He struggled to get to his feet as quickly as possible which was made very hard by the fact that he felt like he had just been put through the wringer. Of course, he had expected as much. Actually, considering how Castiel had warned him what being Lucifer’s vessel might be like, he felt pretty good. There had been some rather intense pain for a moment at the beginning, but once that had stopped and he had come back to his senses he only felt some residual aches and nothing more. That didn’t make sense, however.

Also, Sam couldn’t exactly describe what he had had thought being trapped in his own mind by the devil would be like, but he had surely not expected a meadow on a warm summer’s day.

Granted, Lucifer might just be trying to throw him off by making him feel comfortable, but nothing about this felt like the fallen angel had had anything to do with it. He had not felt Lucifer’s presence or influence at all, in fact.

Goddammit! How was he supposed to fight against something that didn’t seem to be there?

There were no walls or binds to struggle against, there were no monsters or anything alike and there was no sort of representation of Lucifer to fight, either.

Dammit, dammit, dammit! He was losing time! Time that might cost his family and friends their lives! He should have known that this would happen! He should have known that he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell to do anything against Lucifer!

“Stop that, Sammybear, there’s no space in here for any ostriches,” Gabriel’s slightly amused voice broke through the younger Winchester’s brooding.

If Sam had thought that his surroundings had looked too bright before, the archangel was no exception. In fact, Gabriel was easily the brightest thing around. He was basically glowing from the inside out. The light was nearly blinding, but not uncomfortably so.

“Gabriel,” Sam breathed.

He really wanted to believe that this was his partner, but Lucifer had tricked him before and if he wanted to get the younger Winchester to cooperate there was no form that was more likely to ensure his willingness to comply. If Sam fell for the trick, that was.

“Yeah,” the archangel smiled and stepped a little closer which the human allowed for the moment being, “Sorry, it took me a while to put things in order outside, but you took some time to pull yourself together, anyway.”

The younger Winchester eyed the other man warily. He sounded an awful lot like Gabriel, but if Lucifer had taken over Sam’s body and mind then he would know exactly what he had to do to make this seem real.

“It’s okay, I get it,” the shorter male stated soothingly and patiently and held his hand out for the human to take.

Surely just shaking hands couldn’t be too bad? Sam still didn’t see or feel anything to indicate that this was anybody but Gabriel, even if that didn’t make sense at all. Well, nothing made sense that very moment.

The landscape they were in didn’t look like something the younger Winchester would have come up with and it surely wasn’t the image of a place he had ever been. He had a hard time believing that the inside of Lucifer’s mind looked anything like this either, though.

While Sam was still thinking things thought, Gabriel reached for his hand.

The human yelped and pulled his hand away immediately, looking at it with a baffled expression.

“What was that?” he asked, bewildered.

“My grace touching your soul,” the archangel explained a little worriedly, “I am sorry, I thought I had toned it down enough not to hurt you.”

Sam blinked a couple of times and then took Gabriel’s hand again. The feeling of electricity flowing between them didn’t come as a surprise this time. That moment the younger Winchester knew without a doubt that he really was talking to his archangel, as well. The feelings that simple touch evoked were unmistakable and there was no way in hell that Lucifer could have duplicated those a hundred percent accurately.

“You… you didn’t… I was just surprised,” Sam replied, intertwining their fingers, “What happened? What the hell is going on? Where are we?”

Those were a couple of very good questions, but they weren’t quite easy to answer.

“You were out for a little while. We put Lucifer back into the box in the meantime. I’m sure Dean will love to tell you all the details once we get you back into your own body,” the archangel answered with a smirk, “Right now you are – sort of, kind of – sharing my body. Your soul is, anyway.”

That was a lot to take in at once.

“So when I said yes…” the younger Winchester started, but trailed off when he realized he didn’t quite know how to finish the sentence.

“I stole your soul from your body before Lucifer could get in,” Gabriel ended Sam’s statement for him.

The archangel had had to act very quickly and at just the right moment. It had been a close call, but things had worked out just the way he had wanted them to. He supposed that getting yanked out of his body like that must have been hurtful for the younger Winchester’s soul, but he seemed completely okay now. Also, knocking him out for a little while had been necessary to keep Gabriel from getting distracted instead of Lucifer. He didn’t want to imagine what would have happened if the human had started to fight him with everything he had.

“You ruined the entire plan,” Sam pointed out, not really accusingly or upset, however. It seemed that things had still worked out as they had been meant to. Probably even better, looking at how he was not stuck in the cage with Lucifer, but in Gabriel’s body. Yeah, that clearly was preferable.

“I _changed_ the plan last minute and didn’t tell anyone,” the archangel replied without even a hint of apology, “It worked out perfectly. Even your brother agrees to that.”

He had had a short and intense talk with the older Winchester right after the battle had been won for good. There was no use letting him think that his little brother was gone when Gabriel knew for a fact that he wasn’t. He had been able to feel Sam’s soul inside the entire time and he had known that nothing had gone seriously wrong from the moment the younger Winchester had become conscious again, as well.

“He promised me a bath in holy oil the second you are not sharing my body anymore for not telling him of my plan, though,” Gabriel chuckled before he turned a little more serious again, “Before you ask, I didn’t tell any of you, because I simply wasn’t sure it would work and if Lucifer had seen just a hint toward any of this, it wouldn’t have.”

They all had had to look like they just knew they were going to lose Sam and even if it was mean and selfish, the archangel had preferred letting the entire team grief for a while over risking to actually lose his partner forever.

“You keep talking about the time when I… get out of your body,” Sam pointed out confusedly, “Isn’t… I mean, Lucifer is in my body and it’s in the cage, right?”

So, it wasn’t ideal, but the younger Winchester could have lived with staying with Gabriel like this, he supposed. They’d probably need to discuss the mental landscape he was in, though. Just standing or sitting around on a meadow all day long would get boring really quickly.

“Sam, Sammy, Sammybear,” Gabriel clicked his tongue and moved closer to the younger Winchester so their chests were nearly touching, “I’ve got more than enough samples of your DNA and a good amount of intimate knowledge about your body to create a duplicate.”

The human looked like he couldn’t quite believe it, which the archangel took as a personal insult.

“I might not be able to create actual life, because I can’t create souls, but I don’t need to in this case,” he stated seriously before the nearly always present mischievous glint returned to his eyes, “Anything you’d like to improve about yourself? Dean already suggested a haircut.”

Sam’s body might only be a representative form his soul had chosen to take at the moment, but the bitch face was still impressive.

“I shot the request down, of course,” Gabriel smirked, “I love every inch about you as is. Every. Single. One.”

The younger Winchester shook his head with a snort, but then leaned in to touch his lips to the archangel’s. That was just Gabriel as he lived and breathed and Sam wouldn’t want to change anything about that, either.

“You might want to let go before I get too used to this,” the archangel sighed after a few moments, “It’s going to be hard to let you go again, anyway.”

It was quite possible that Sam did not feel things exactly the same way Gabriel did, but he still understood what his partner was talking about. The direct contact between his soul and the archangel’s grace was different than a normal touch, more intense in a way.

The younger Winchester tried to keep some distance between them after that. Sure, Gabriel had been holding his hand before, but it was probably better if they stopped doing that, too.

“I didn’t think the inside of your mind would look like this,” Sam stated after a moment with a small frown.

“Oh, it’s not exactly my mind,” the archangel shrugged, “Your soul must have felt drawn to my vessel’s soul.”

Gabriel had started to walk when he had begun to speak and Sam had followed him instinctively. They didn’t have to go far before they could see a small cottage with a field in front of it and a man working on it. The man’s clothes were different to those Gabriel preferred, of course, and he held himself differently, but other than that the stranger was a perfect lookalike of the archangel, as far as Sam could see from the distance.

“Do me a favor and leave the guy alone, though,” Gabriel requested, “He’s been living in this dream for a very long time.”

The younger Winchester just nodded. He could imagine that it would be very shocking for the vessel to be confronted with the outside world after something like thirteen centuries.

“You can call for me any time you get too lonely,” the archangel promised with a smile, “I promise to work as quickly as I can.”

 

* * *

 

 

In the end, it took two days before Gabriel was satisfied with his work. He was not creating a simple illusion that would blink out of existence again, after all. He needed to get the biological functions right and he wanted to make a really perfect replacement for Sam’s body, anyway.

The archangel very gently kissed the still slack lips of his creation and watched with some amazement how the younger Winchester’s eyes began to flutter open.

“Hey there,” Gabriel whispered, cupping Sam’s face with his hands still, “Got your eyes right.”

“I’m sure you did a bang up job,” the younger Winchester smiled as he tried to sit up.

Apparently, getting your soul removed from one body and inserted into another hurt, but the archangel had clearly been gentler this time around.

It was strange to see through his own two eyes again and the real world simply felt different to the dream landscape he had been wandering around in the past days, but one very important thing was the same here and there.

“I love you,” Sam whispered, finally succeeding with getting upright and pulling his partner closer to himself immediately.

“Love you, too,” Gabriel replied and planted a firm kiss on the human’s lips before he deepened the kiss. “Got your tongue right, too.”

This far, he had to say that he felt pretty much like he always had. His limbs seemed to work and everything he could see looked exactly as he remembered. The younger Winchester couldn’t quite help waiting for the other shoe to drop, however.

“U-huh,” Sam agreed contently before he gave the archangel an inquisitive look, “So, you left everything the way it was?”

He wasn’t quite sure he liked the slightly guilty look that crossed his lover’s face.

“Well, I got rid of your appendix, just in case,” Gabriel shrugged, drawing little circles on Sam’s side, “I did not put all the scars back on you, either.”

The archangel’s fingers gripped the hem of the younger Winchester’s t-shirt and pulled it upward slightly. “And then, there’s this.”

Sam stared at the handprint that was branded into his hip and disappeared under the waistband of his jeans for a couple of seconds without saying anything.

“Hey, Castiel got one of those on your brother and they aren’t even sleeping together!” Gabriel went on to defend the mark he had left on his partner immediately, “Besides, artists always need to sign their great artworks!”

“Yeah, nothing to do with you being possessive and loving the idea that everyone’s going to see this when I stretch the right way,” Sam replied, amusement evident in his tone, however. If anybody was allowed to leave a permanent mark on him without the younger Winchester minding too much, it was Gabriel.

“Which was why I didn’t put it where I first intended,” the archangel smirked and then stood up and pulled the younger Winchester along with him. “Come on, you need to say ‘hi’ to your family!”

Sam smiled at that. Yes, he’d really love to see them all and let them know that – once more – he was back and completely fine.

“And then we’ll take the rest of your new body for a test-drive,” Gabriel added joyfully.

The younger Winchester shook his head slightly, but he couldn’t deny that he was really looking forward to that.


	40. Chapter 40

** Epilogue **

 

Sam aimed quickly and threw Ruby’s knife at the demon before he could get even closer to his brother.

Dean got back to his feet and pulled the weapon out of the fallen man’s back, sending a disdainful look at the dead body.

“I hate that we’re actually helping Crowley with this,” the older Winchester complained as they went back to the Impala to return to their motel rooms.

Yes, they generally got separate rooms these days. Even if Gabriel wasn’t with them on the hunt, he’d show up to get his dose of vitamin Sammybear, as he liked to dub it, daily. After he had gotten over the first shock of having just heard that, amusement had set in and Dean had teased his brother with his new nickname mercilessly.

“You know what they say. Better the devil you know…” Sam replied with a shrug, even though he didn’t quite like the situation, either.

Okay, they weren’t actually working for or with Crowley, but the new king of hell was dropping them hints for new hunts ever so often and they couldn’t quite decline helping the innocent people involved just because they didn’t like Crowley. Bobby, Ellen and Jo were in a similar situation, too.

Closing the doors of the Impala behind them, both brothers decided to just drop the subject. They had discussed it often enough to know that it always came back to the fact that there was no reason not to kill demons that were killing people just because the new king of hell apparently wanted them dead, too.

“So, are the kiddies coming over for lunch again anytime soon, mommy?” Dean asked with a grin as he got the car into gear.

It was nearly astonishing how well the older Winchester was getting along with the three pagan gods who had decided that regular visits were something they should have taken up ages ago. Sam figured it helped that they had Gabriel’s sense of humor, but didn’t sleep with Sam and had no history with them prior to deciding to help them.

He ignored the part where Dean loved to call him mommy. There was no use arguing about that and the more Sam tried the more Dean enjoyed using the word, anyway.

“You just love those lunches so much, because the four of them give you the perfect excuse to eat whatever the hell you want and still looking moderate in comparison,” the younger Winchester snorted.

Hel, Fenrir and Jörmungandr shared their father’s fondness for all things sweet and unhealthy, as well. Every so called family lunch they went on ended with the restaurant being out of pie or cake or both. Maybe Sam was exaggerating, but only a little.

“It’s not our fault that you’re a health nut,” Dean shot back.

Also, someone had to compensate for Castiel not eating usually and Sam just ordering salads. The angel would order a cheeseburger every now and then, but he didn’t indulge his appetite all too often. Dean had not succeeded with completely compromising him despite his best efforts, yet. He was getting somewhere with introducing him to the most important things in pop culture, however.

“When Gabriel shows up tonight,” the older Winchester started seriously, looking over to his younger brother, “For fuck’s sake, remember that we had to get rooms that are next to each other! There isn’t enough brain bleach in the world!”

Sam hated that he still got as embarrassed as he did about things like that, but at least he had gotten used to giving comebacks that would make Dean shut up.

“Like you’re going to hear anything once you and Cas start _watching movies_ ,” he shrugged lightly and grinned when his brother rambled on about how ridiculous it was to compare the two things and how he totally didn’t know what Sam was even getting at.

Okay, so maybe Gabriel had a bad influence on the younger Winchester. He loved it, though.

They reached the parking lot of their motel before Dean was quite finished with his rant, but he stopped talking when he saw that the archangel was already waiting for them.

“Missed you!” Gabriel exclaimed and basically jumped on Sam to claim his lips in a heated kiss.

One could have thought that they had been apart for weeks instead of hours.

“What are you? Teenagers?” the older Winchester grumbled, but admitted defeat and just grabbed his things and went toward his own room, “See you at breakfast.”

He couldn’t forget and forgive all the things Gabriel had put them through over the years, but he could see that the archangel was really good for his brother, so he would just stick to complaining and making snide remarks while secretly approving. That worked well enough for all of them.

“I’ve been thinking,” Gabriel suddenly announced, standing next to Sam, but not moving toward their room, yet, “What would you think about making the family bigger?”

It was the younger Winchester’s turn to fight for words. “What?” he asked ineloquently in the end.

“Just a dog,” the archangel explained with a definite smirk in his voice.

Preparing Sam for the worst and then making a relatively reasonable demand. Gabriel had learned that that was the way to get his partner to agree to many things very quickly.

“I don’t know, Gabe. A dog is a great responsibility,” the younger Winchester replied thoughtfully. Sure, the archangel could keep the animal alive without troubles, but if they should get a dog together then Sam wanted them to really care for the animal, too.

“Okay, okay,” Gabriel backpedalled and then pulled his trump card out of his sleeve, “Cats are so much more independent than dogs are. So, a kitten?”

The younger Winchester sighed and didn’t answer. There was no way he was going to win this argument, as things were.

“I am the almighty archangel of the Lord that created your new body,” Gabriel stated very seriously, throwing his arms around Sam’s neck and wrapping his legs around the human’s waist so he could be carried back to their room piggyback, “And I demand a kitten!”

All his life, Sam had wished to be normal. He had had to give up on that very quickly, because he had had to realize that he could never be like everybody else. He could never forget everything he had learned and seen and pretend that he didn’t know things nobody else did.

He had thought he could still have a normal life, for another while. Surely, he didn’t have to be completely normal himself just to have an ordinary life. He had had to burry that dream rather quickly as well, though.

To tell the truth, even if he had known that he could never be normal and have a normal life, he had still wished for these things.

Well, there was absolutely nothing normal about being in a homosexual relationship with a hyperactive, sugar-addict, nymphomaniac archangel of the Lord, but he loved it without any ifs and buts, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading the story! I hope you enjoyed and would be very happy if you left me a comment!


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